A True Hero Born From Fire
by jackalope21
Summary: Warren's pushed into an unwelcome situation that forces him to be a reluctant hero. He realizes there are far worse things than being Barron Battles' only kid. He has to save her from the hell he didn't know was in his neighborhood. Warren/OC T in case
1. Chapter 1

**Okay. I've been writing a lot lately cause, well, I'm bored until my husband is back state-side again. FYI, nothing to do in military cities. Anyhow, I love this movie and thought I'd give this a shot. This is a little story about Warren being thrust into a situation he didn't want to be in, but he couldn't walk away from. He becomes the only one that can help a young woman that not only goes to Sky High, but actually lives in his neighborhood in _that_ house, the one that everyone always knew had something wrong with it. I hope you guys like it!**

**Just give the story a shot. I'm actually kind of proud of how it turned out and I think you'll like it. And it does start getting more lighthearted I promise. Right around eleven or twelve I think, it starts getting less tense. Thanks.  
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**Chapter One: Freshman Year**

She sat looking in the mirror of her room, a room that more resembled a cell more than anything. She scowled at her reflection, a common place habit anymore. She hated what she was about to have to do. Going to school was a menial enough task in her mind but adding with that a bunch of super heroes in training was nearly unbearable. The fact that half of them came from Super parents was even worse. She sighed to herself as she shook her head, grabbing her long hair and tying it into a bun so it would fit underneath her hood and pulled on the jacket, ensuring the previously mentioned hood was secured down over her face before she set off to school.

She didn't take the bus with the other kids in her neighborhood for the sheer fact she didn't want them to know she lived near them. They'd thank her later. She boarded, ignoring the muttering students, all staring at the freak in the black before gliding into the furthest seat in the back she could manage. They set off like she assumed they always did, lunging off a cliff side and into the air. The other new students screamed at the sudden lunge into the air, thinking death was inevitable before soaring into the sky. She was marginally amused at their reactions but stayed silent for the most part with nothing more than a light grunt when they hit the ground.

Along with the rest of the students that got off of the three buses toting freshman, she walked towards thee impressive campus. Hanging more towards the back, she did her best to avoid damn near everyone ranging from the small red headed kid with glasses to the one sporting the American flag inspired shirt. She just preferred the back where less people saw her and where she wasn't expected to speak. In doing so, she was able to actually get a look around her and see what everything was, the sprawling metropolis styled campus that floated miles above the city below. She silently wondered what the civilians would think if they knew something this high tech, heavy and easily the size of a city block was hovering above their heads at all times with nothing more than antigravity equipment. A smile touched her lips.

"… And if you just remember those few rules, I promise you won't fall off the edge of the school."

The voice brought her attention forward once more and she realized some random Barbie with brown hair and almost disgustingly pink cardigan was speaking to them. The people around her chuckled at her remark while she couldn't help but notice there were marks that surrounded them like a circle. Her brow tensed. She was going to have to pay more attention to what was going on around her. When she spaced out, apparently it was worse than she thought.

"Well come on. Follow me inside for orientation." she smiled, beaming an unnervingly sweet smile.

She shook beneath her hoddie and followed the group of freshman fish like her into the expansive building behind the girl in pink. Yet again, she paid little to no attention as they talked about classes offered for both heroes and 'hero support'. She scoffed to herself. Really? Hero support? Why not just say sidekick like everyone knows they are? Calling them hero support just seemed more insulting than side kick to her but if anyone else noticed, they didn't say anything. Eventually they were instructed and led into the gymnasium. Everything in this school seemed oddly knew and… breakable. Either they never had mishaps here or this place was stronger than it looked.

A swooshing sound brought her attention forward when a ball of white light swooped over the entire congregations' heads. Most ducked to avoid being smacked in the back of the head by the projectile but she didn't really care. But, as surprising as the orb had been, the woman that burst from it had to be the most impressive. She was a beautiful woman for her age, dressed smartly and exuding power as she stood behind a podium that had somehow appeared from nowhere.

"Good morning, I am Principal Powers," she smiled, the 'exuding power' seemed to make sense now. "And behalf myself and all of the faculty, allow me to welcome you to Sky High."

"Yeah!"

Attention shifted to a tall young man clad in white and highlighter yellow. He made a few people chuckle and giggle under their breaths, her being one while Powers just smiled wryly and cocked a brow. He snapped his mouth shut quickly.

"In a few moments," she continued. "You will go through Power Placement and your own heroic journey will begin."

"Power Placement?" the young man not too far ahead muttered to the girl in green.

"It sounds fascist." she replied under her breath.

She cocked her brow to their conversation, wondering if it was that unbelievable to them that they would test to see what everyone could do. It was logical wasn't it? Being in a super hero school, they would kind of have to know what they're dealing with. It made sense to her at least but she didn't much care either way.

"For now good deeds and good luck, and let your adventure begin!" she chimed with a smile. "Comets away!"

And with as flourished a movement as before, she disappeared into a ball of white energy and disappeared, moving through the door that she had sailed in while a man in gym shorts came through the floor on a platform. Did she see that right? A grown man wearing gym shorts? Really? She shook the ridiculousness from her mind and went back to what was happening. She was in the front now and she didn't like it, the guy showing up right behind everyone so naturally, those in back were now in front. She grumbled under her breath and did her best to sink away inside her jacket further.

"Are you cold or something?"

The small voice made her turn to the side to see the same girl in green speaking to her. She seemed to have a genuine look of concern which made her slightly uncomfortable.

"No," she answered quietly. The red head looked slightly surprised it seemed to realize that the one hiding within the jacket was a girl. "I mean, I don't really get cold."

"Oh, okay." she replied with a light twitch of a smile before offering her hand. "I'm Layla."

The young woman looked apprehensively at the extended hand and after a pause that seemed to make Layla reconsider, she accepted the gesture.

"Aryana." she said kindly shaking her hand.

Layla smiled a bit more relaxed than before but stared curiously at the gloves on the young woman's hands.

"Why are you all covered up?"

Aryana didn't respond for a while, not really sure she wanted to tell a complete stranger her reasons. Layla seemed to pick up on the apprehension, her face quickly revealing her embarrassment.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you…" she began before being cut off quickly.

"Are we clear?" Coach Boomer bellowed, sending a shock wave at the group and causing them to bristle slightly.

Everyone quickly chimed their agreement.

"Good. You!" he chimed, pointing to the small redheaded boy in glasses. "What's your name?"

"L-Larry." he muttered.

"Little Larry," he mocked. "Get up here."

The boy nodded apprehensively and made his way towards the platform.

"What's humiliating him in front of everyone going to prove?" Layla asked.

Aryana had thought she was speaking to her for a moment before realizing that she was surrounded by her own friends and was talking to them. She sank back into her coat like before. Her attention shifted back to the young man on the platform and was pleasantly surprised to see him shift into a seven foot tall rock man. She was sure she mimicked the expression on everyone else's face when a hunk of junk car was dropped on top of him and he caught it easily before the segregation… classification commenced.

Out of nowhere, despite the all American boy trying to stop him, the one dressed like a highlighter moved up the steps, much to the annoyance of the Coach. When instructed to show his powers, he stood there. No one knew why until he explained he glowed. Not a useful feature in a well lit room to be honest. Boomer shouted his opinion on the matter, sidekick. And so it began.

Kids were paraded up the platform one by one, displaying talents that no normal human could do no matter how they tried, and were either rewarded with the ideal name or shoved aside as a sidekick, er, Hero Support. At least in here, Boomer didn't sugarcoat it and said what it was, labeling them like everyone else would except the teachers that would teach the sidekicks. Honestly, only sidekicks used the term and it left a bad taste in even their mouths.

"You!" Boomer suddenly called after some kid melted a wall with snot. Attention shifted to the body in black. "Name!"

"Aryana."

There were looks from the people she hadn't spoken to, obviously surprised that the mass of fabric was female. She bit back the embarrassment of being called out in front of everyone and waited for the man in the pretty shorts told her what he wanted. It seemed to take him a second to realize a girl's voice had been spoken before he regained himself.

"Front and center Missy." he called, waving her up.

Aryana did just as the half a dozen students before her had done and ascended the small stairs to the platform.

"Power?"

"Which one?" she asked in a soft voice that seemed to resonate, traveling better than the volley ball coach's yells.

He cocked a skeptical brow to her.

"Well why don't you pick one?" he asked sarcastically.

She cocked her brow, a motion invisible to the man since nothing but her chin and mouth were visible. Removing her gloves, she placed them in her pockets and snapped. A small blue flame spouted from her fingers like she had struck a lighter.

"Is that the best you've got Matchstick?" he taunted. She said nothing as she moved her fingers, the flame disappearing. "Target!"

Like with the car, three targets on the other side of the gym snapped into existence from nowhere. Knowing what she was meant to do, Aryana launched one blue fireball after another at the targets. The class jumped slightly with the impact but became a bit unnerved when they realized there wasn't a hole through the targets. Instead they had disintegrated, the metal still melting slowly while a few flames still licked at the wood that remained behind. Bringing her hand up, she clenched her fists and the flames diminished before becoming nothing.

"Hero!" he called.

Reaching into her pockets, she put her gloves back on as she walked down the steps, letting whoever was called next to take her place. A bell rang loudly before another student was called, alerting to lunch. Boomer told them they would return here afterwards to continue their placement and Aryana found herself wondering if they were going to have any real classes today or if the actual learning came later.

"Hey," a voice chimed as the class filed out.

She turned to see Layla smiling kindly to her again. She didn't know why but she got a very strong motherly vibe from the girl, like she tried to care for and nurture the people or things around her. It was weird to say the least and made Aryana highly uncomfortable. She wasn't used to kindness.

"Aryana, you want to come eat lunch with us?"

Arayan glanced behind to see the 'us' referenced and noticed her little group consisted of Popsicle, Glow Stick, Guinea Pig girl and the kid that hadn't gone yet. GP Girl seemed relatively unconcerned with what was happening while Glow Stick and Popsicle looked uncomfortable around the young woman. The thought made her sigh.

"Dude, maybe she has plans." Glow Stick hissed under his breath, not concealing his words as well as he had hoped.

Layla didn't pay the kid any attention as she waited patiently for an answer.

"Thanks but I don't think your friends are too comfortable around me." she said with a weak smile. "Thanks anyway though."

And with that she turned to walk off. Layla turned and scowled at her friends, Magenta doing the same at their tones.

"Nice Zach." she snapped. "She's here by herself and you have to go and scare her off."

"Dude she looks like some kind of killer stalker person hiding out in her jacket. She could like, have a bomb or something." he defended.

"Really? A bomb?" Magenta asked sarcastically. "With what half the kids here can do, you're worried about a bomb?"

"It could happen." he shrugged, his voice long since having lost conviction.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

The groups of people just kept chattering away in the cafeteria to the point it had become nothing more than a faint buzzing in her ears as she went about stabbing whatever it was that was placed on her plate. Honestly, she didn't know what this gelatinous mess was supposed to be. She had a theory that it was slightly frozen marinara sauce and the worms sticking out of it was over cooked spaghetti. Yup, that was it. Frankly, it looked relatively disgusting and there was no way she planned on eating it, at least not when she could still taste what she ate.

Sticking her tongue out at the mixture, she pushed it to the side and grabbed the book she had stashed in the outside pocket of her backpack and began reading from the last dog eared page. Her eyes lazily moved over the words before she felt someone standing over her, looming in the background just beyond her line of sight. She tried to push the feeling out of her mind until it got to the point where it was just plain annoying.

"What?" she snapped, turning abruptly to see who was interfering with her reading.

All action around her seemed to have stopped from the outburst but she didn't seem to notice. All she saw was some random guy in a leather jacket, trying a bit too hard for the tough guy thing in her opinion, staring down at her with nearly black eyes. He looked slightly taken aback that someone had spoken to him like that but quickly regained his composure.

"You're in my seat." he said in a deep, dangerously warning voice.

"So pick a new one." she replied, going back to her book.

She scoffed to herself. Did he really think he was that scary?

"Move." he growled through clenched teeth.

She turned again, this time slower than before to illustrate her irritation with the man.

"No." she answered defiantly.

"Move or I'll move you."

She snorted at his threat and shook her head lightly.

"Is this your special brooding spot?"

He cocked a warning brow to her and she sighed. She didn't have the patience for some overly dominant male getting pissy because she had encroached on his territory. Grabbing her bag she stood, turning her back to the man as she began to walk off.

"Don't scowl too hard." she called back. "Might hurt yourself."

He took his seat, looking at the back of her head and glaring, secretly wishing he could set her on fire before his attention shifted to the five Aryana was supposed to have eaten with before hand. He steadied his glare and went about doing exactly what it was the girl had said he would. He cursed her in his head but didn't stop. Right now he was focused on the kid in the red, white and blue t-shirt.

0o0

When 'class' finally came to an end, Aryana felt herself sigh her relief. Tomorrow apparently was when the actual classes began though how they were supposed to get an education, a real one, when all they taught was Hero 101, History of Heroes and whatever else, she didn't know. It didn't matter though, not really. She just had to suck it up and go with it for the next four years. Oh god… four years of this? She wanted nothing more than to jump off the side of the school grounds but she knew it wouldn't do anything. Not really. Those were the thoughts that accompanied her to the bus.

Like before, she took her seat as far in the back as she could. She didn't sit in the last seat for the sheer fact it was positioned along the entire back of the bus. Why she didn't know but she figured it had something to do with the rockets that burst out of the back of the bus whenever they were in flight so the emergency exit didn't have to be there. She honestly didn't want to have that much room for people to come and sit by her so she chose the one in front of it.

Roughly, there were three hundred days in a school year including weekends and holidays. So, that times four was how long she had to endure this before she would be free, free from school, from brooding bikers and blustering coaches, free from the god awful 'prison' she lived in and free to do whatever the hell she wanted because her sentence was over. The thought of finally being able to escape made her smile, an action that was brought abruptly to a halt.

Black and the smell of leather brought her out of her thoughts. She turned and at the sight of the aforementioned biker, Aryana openly sighed and rolled her eyes. He didn't seem to care in the least, sharing in her irritation. Well, she was glad she got this out of the way now. After all, this wasn't her real bus so it wasn't as though she _had_ to come back to it. Unfortunately though, it was the closest to her house. She growled deep in her throat as he took a seat behind her in the back seat. She rolled her eyes again. Of course that would be where he sat. Of course. So now she was permitted to sit there while he glared holes into the back of her head like he was now. She could feel it and he wasn't subtle anyway.

She rode the bus in silence, something she would have done anyway, as it landed on Earth and went about it's normal routes. Students filed off the bus as the stops came and went but she couldn't help but notice that the angsty biker hadn't left yet. She didn't care. Her stop was coming up. Grabbing her bag, she stood a split second before the bus stopped, moving out of her seat in time to hit something.

"Oh you have to be kidding me." she grumbled under her breath. Sure enough, when she looked up, he was standing too.

"Watch it." he grumbled, neither of them moving for the other.

"Why don't you be a gentlemen and let the girl get off first?"

"Girl? Is that what's under there?" he asked with a sneer.

Aryana hissed from deep within her throat, a sound she knew he heard. She could feel her features darkening in anger and quickly looked away, calming herself before anything bad happened.

"Fine then," she sighed, taking a step back towards her seat before looking up with a sarcastic grin. "Ladies first."

The cocky smile he had worn only a moment before faded, replaced by a scowl before he stormed passed her and off the bus. At least she could piss him off like he did her. That made her feel a bit better. A feeling that grew when she watched him walk in the opposite direction of herself. Finally, some luck.

Feeling better about the situation, Aryana almost jumped off the bottom step of the bus before heading home. And then she realized where she was going. Her shoulders immediately slumped at the realization, her feet feeling a bit heavier now.

Peace had gotten off the bus first, still annoyed at the young woman before turning left towards his house. He heard her behind him and couldn't help but glance over his shoulder at her. He wondered if he would have to endure the insufferable girl on his way home too only to realize she was heading in the other direction. He felt a bit better, not having to deal with the young woman until he saw her shoulders visibly drop, her head soon following suit. His brow came together curiously before he went about his business, knowing he only had about forty minutes before he had to be at work.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Aryana hadn't heard the end of it, still, hours later, when Principal Powers had called her house. She was still hearing the barrage of screams, yells and ungodly crap that flowed from that woman's mouth when the Principal requested Aryana meet her in her office before school began. She just wanted to get out of that house as quickly as possible, not even bothering with the front door while the old woman that seemed to hate her so much was still screaming on the other side of her bedroom door. Like so many times before when she wanted nothing more than to escape, she slid out of her bedroom window, walked across the porch's roof to the front of the house and jumped down onto the beaten up slide that, somehow, had remained upright through all these years. She was sure she'd be the one to break it since it was her landing pad for the last four years, but she'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

So sticking her ear buds in underneath her hood, Aryana set off down the driveway, still hearing the muffled yells within the house. Martha, the screamer, would probably stay that way for about twenty or so more minutes, screaming her disappointments until she was blue in the face only to realize she was talking to herself. Not exactly the 'motherly' type that one. But, pushing the thought into the back of her mind, she went about selecting her music for the ride to school and pushed play, drowning out everything else as she listened to falsely happy and upbeat lyrics of people who seemed to have it better than her.

She rounded the corner two blocks down from the stop and saw the biker walking towards her from, what she assumed, was his house. They both hesitated in their steps but continued on, acting as though they hadn't. When they reached the corner, neither spoke to the other or even bothered actual eye contact though they stole irritated glances at the other while they thought it was safe.

Right on time, the bus came barreling down the street and screeched to a halt, the air brakes sighing their relief when the doors swung open. Neither moved for a moment. Aryana had half expected the biker to go first but he hadn't even taken a step. She looked to him curiously to see him giving her an expectant glance. He cocked a brow giving her a, 'well, you gonna move now or what?' kind of look. Not willing to look a gift horse, she nodded stiffly and stepped on, him right behind her. Like before, she took her seat and him his, the others just kind of eying them as they strolled down the narrow isle. When she was comfortably in her seat and the bus started moving again, Aryana spoke.

"Thanks." she said simply, an acknowledgment of his previous action.

"You hurt yourself there?" he asked sarcastically.

Aryana didn't bothering looking back when she had spoken or even when he replied. She didn't even care enough to snap back and only smiled under her hood before sitting back and sinking into her jacket with her music.

0o0

When they reached the school, he shocked her by yet again letting her move before him. An action she couldn't help but comment on.

"Twice in one day? You feeling all right?" she teased.

"Having second thoughts." he answered back.

She smiled under her hood and once she had stepped off the bus, she went her way and he went his. She didn't read anything into it because like she had stated before, it was just polite. Besides, she had a feeling they'd be at each other's throats at some point soon or even that this was a passing whim. So, she wouldn't bitch at him and took it as nothing more than the whim.

It took her a moment but Aryana soon found the Principal's office and knocked on the door, only entering when the woman within called her to. She slowly pushed it open and walked inside, the woman behind the desk looking up from her writing and smiling warmly.

"Please Ms. Gehenna, have a seat." she said in the same kind of voice.

Apprehensively she did as she was told, still looking worried.

"Um, Mrs. Powers, did I do something wrong? Cause if so, that's like a record." she said causing Powers to laugh lightly.

"No," she replied, still smiling as she dug through a file on her desk. "No, you've done nothing wrong. That I know about." she glanced up with a grin, a glint in her eyes that let Aryana know she was teasing before producing a piece of paper. "This is going to be your class schedule. Most of the heroes are given the same classes for their year but you scored a bit higher on some of your subjects than are required for a freshman level so your schedule will be mixed." she said, handing Aryana the piece of paper. "You'll have both sophomore and a couple of freshman classes."

She nodded her understanding, looking over her schedule and trying to think of where half of the classes were.

"As I understand it, you're actually fifteen, almost sixteen?"

Aryana looked up to see Powers eying her with a curious expression she couldn't decipher, her arms resting on her desk, fingers interlocked as she waited for her answer.

"Yes ma'am." Aryana replied, a bit ashamed that she was technically a freshman and age suggested a sophomore, almost a junior. "I lost a year when…"

Powers held up her hand to stop her mid sentence.

"I know. I've read your file." she smiled warmly. "I understand it might be a bit odd having to be in classes with people so much younger than you but with your test scores and if you applied yourself you could easily graduate with your intended class. So long as you don't cause any trouble."

Aryana winced slightly at the implied meaning. It was hard to miss.

"No ma'am. I don't plan on it at least."

Powers' smile widened slightly.

"Good. Well," the bell rang, interrupting her and causing her to scowl slightly. It was obvious why. It was louder in her office then Aryana had heard anywhere in the school. "I swear I'm going to take that thing out." she smiled. "Well, as I was going to say, so long as you try, you should do just fine here. Now go on, you don't want to be late for class on your first day."

"Thank you ma'am." she said respectfully before standing and walking out of the classroom.

She walked out of the office looking over her schedule and sighed. Behave? Really? What did the woman think? That she would go around reeking havoc? Aryana sighed again. Yup, that was exactly what Powers thought and honestly, it wasn't an unfounded concern. But Aryana wasn't that stupid, especially when early release was an option. She, unlike the other students that she knew of, wasn't paying for her tuition. The state was. Aryana had a full ride scholarship to Shy High because the authorities didn't want to mix her with the general populous in the public school system. Yet again, she couldn't blame them there either. She didn't even trust herself. And, to make it even better, she might get to graduate at eighteen like a 'normal' kid and move out. As per the states arrangement, she wouldn't be able to go anywhere without graduating first and the thought of staying where she was for four more years was hell, worse than hell, so she was overjoyed.

Still wearing a faint smile, she walked towards the science lab. Mad Science II displayed as her first class. This was definitely going to be an interesting way to start the day. She found herself wondering how many people were really awake enough in this class at eight thirty in the morning not to burn themselves with acid or what have you. So, folding the schedule, she walked through the door to find a man with a curiously bulbous head standing in front of the class.

"Late!" he chimed, drawing any lingering attention to the young woman. She cursed him internally.

"I was talking with Mrs…."

"Irrelevant!" he chimed in the same voice. "As you are late, I will choose where you will be sitting Miss…" he paused, glancing down at the names on his enrollment sheet.

He started choking lightly, exaggerating the reaction in her mind, when he saw her name. His eyes wide, suddenly shot to her and made her want to sink into her coat again. Instead of sitting there, in front of the class while the mad man tried to pronounce her name, Aryana looked for the vacant seat he had spoken of only to find it next to the biker. Right now, that was definitely the lesser of the two evils and she all but ran towards the seat just to escape the situation.

Warren eyed her curious behavior for a moment, more interested in why she was acting like she was than the fact she was even there. The second she had rounded the corner of the lab table, she slung her bag to the ground and sat in one fluid motion. She, like every other time before when people stared, sank within the safety of her oversized hoodie, her hand placed on the side of her face to shield her eyes from Warren, knowing he was looking at her like she was crazy, her other palm planted on the black desk.

"Gehenna."

He all but gasped the name when it finally made it passed his lips. She wasn't looking up but could hear people turning around to look at her, hearing stools shuffle and the whispering of the people around her.

"You're not…" he muttered again. "You're not related to Azazel are you?"

Warren's eyes had remained on the young woman and noticed something even stranger than before. Her fingernails, painted black and visible now that she wasn't wearing a pair of gloves, were growing ever so slightly. They were becoming more like claws than anything, even appearing sharper than before. He still eyed her when whispers of _Red Devil_were muttered through the other students. As though hearing it, which wasn't hard given how loud they were "whispering", Aryana clenched her hand into a fist digging four gouges into the desks surface with nothing more than her fingernails.

"Well," Medulla finally chimed, trying to keep his hand from shaking slightly. "Uh, let's move on shall we?"

And he did, as best he could, while still looking over his shoulder at the young woman clad in black. Periodically, Warren did the same as the rest of the students, looking at the woman beside him. After a while, he noticed her nails had returned to normal, looking nothing more than like painted fingernails again instead of claws. He wondered if that was part of her power, dagger like fingers. But as funny as that seemed to him, he couldn't ignore the more pressing thing. He had heard of the Red Devil, everyone had. You wouldn't be able to find a person in the school who hadn't and he understood her reaction too.

"Hey,"

The voice made her look around to see who out of the people around her had actually spoken to her and not about her. She shifted, realizing it had been the kid next to her. Warren watched as she glanced through her fingers at him. All he could see was a slate gray, almost silver, colored eye looking back at him, her face blank.

"Welcome to the club." he replied with a hint of a grin.

She turned a little more, letting her hand fall as she eyed him curiously.

"You too?"

He nodded solemnly, tapping the eraser end of his pencil on the table a couple of times before meeting her eyes again.

"Yeah," he finally said lowly. "Me too."

Aryana's eyes moved back ahead as the side of her lips turned up into a disbelieving smile. Well, at least she wasn't the only outcast in the school. The difference was, she didn't want to be. Her smile fell when she realized that this would be around the school within the next class and there was nothing she could do about it. She put her face in her hands and groaned at the thought causing the man next to her to eye her like she was insane again.

**Okie pokie, her last name is pronounced Gi-hen-na.** **Dictionary says, amongst a few other meanings, it's basically Hell, any place of extreme torment and suffering. A valley near Jerusalem where sacrifices were made. **

**Creepy huh? :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, due to the unintentional implication of abuse against women that had been brought to my attention, I rewrote this chapter. It was an accident to make it seem as though it was alright. The way it was supposed to come off was he wasn't even thinking in the first place, that he wasn't himself and that's why it happened. That he was too enraged to realize what he was doing but that's not how it came out and honestly, either way doesn't really sound right. So, it was rewritten and changed. I apologize for offending anyone with what I wrote and hope this is better. If there is still a problem with it, PM me and let me know what needs to be altered. Thanks.**

Chapter Four

Sure enough, by the time lunch rolled around, everyone in the whole school seemed to know who Aryana was related to and she couldn't stand it. She didn't even bother to get her food. Instead, she just went outside, unable to stand the whispering sounds in the cafeteria instead of the normal mindless chatter. They were all leaning forward, muttering things to one another in hushed tones, their eyes on her. She felt heat fill her face either out of embarrassment or sheer shame. Either way, she left, electing instead to go outside and sit by herself on the wall near the front stairs.

"Did you see that?" Layla asked as Aryana walked pass their table and to the doors that led out.

"Yeah, bet your glad she didn't eat with us before huh?" Zach blurted, receiving a slap from Magenta in response.

"No," Layla hissed under her breath. "Her face. She looked so sad."

"Dude, she's the Red Devil's daughter. Who cares if she's sad?" Ethan added, surprising all of them by his tone.

"How do I know that name?" Will asked. "It sounds so familiar."

The others looked at him aghast.

"What?" he shrugged, slightly embarrassed when it donned on him. "Oh yeah. I think my dad fought him."

Zach scoffed in disbelief.

"Will, your dad, your mom and like six other heroes fought that guy." he said. "It was like ten years ago I think when he had escaped last. He swore he'd never go back alive so when the heroes started going after him, dude…" he sighed. "It took your parents, Captain Hero and Whirlwind to finally get the guy and that was after he took out Polaris and Blackout."

"He killed two heroes?" Will asked almost horrified.

Layla nodded.

"From what I heard, he almost got Whirlwind too before your dad…" she paused.

"What?" Will asked, completely enthralled with the part of the story he had never been told.

"Let's just say he's not going to be hurting anyone else anymore." Ethan replied in a somber voice.

Will looked shocked at his friends. They all seemed to silently agree on the same fact, that the Commander had actually killed Aryana's father. He didn't know how to take that. Should he be proud that his dad saved countless people's lives or ashamed that his dad had actually killed someone.

"That's why everyone's freaking out now." he muttered to himself.

Zach nodded, yet again blurting things out in the most uncouth manner.

"All the teachers and stuff think she's going to go all batshit like her dad did and start knocking off heroes."

"She wouldn't do that." Layla sighed as though they were being ridiculous.

"Oh yeah?" Ethan asked. "You haven't even talked to her more than once since school started."

"You know what?" she asked with a sigh, placing her hands flat on the table and standing. "You're right."

"Whoa wait, where are you going?" Will asked quickly.

"To talk to her." she replied defiantly, walking towards the same doors Aryana had walked through.

Layla stormed out of the cafeteria with more gusto than she had going through her. In order to save face in front of her friends, she walked out and into the gardens on the grounds without breaking her step though she knew her face betrayed her apprehension. She wasn't sure she knew what she was doing but the short time she had actually spoken to Aryana, she seemed nice so maybe this would work.

Finally she found the woman she sought sitting on the concrete wall by the stairs reading a book, seemingly ignorant to the few people walking around staring at her but Layla could tell she knew what was happening and chose to ignore it. Taking a deep breath, she steeled her nerves and walked towards her, smiling wide when she sat down beside the woman in the big hoodie. Aryana froze for a moment before turning to see Layla smiling at her.

"Layla right?" she asked, looking back to her book.

"Yeah. Aryana wasn't it?" she asked knowing full well.

Aryana nodded and remained silent. An uneasy silence stretched between the two for a few minutes before Aryana spoke.

"I know you don't really want to be sitting here with me." she finally said with a sigh.

"Why would you say that?" she asked with a deceptively chipper voice.

Aryana couldn't fight back the slight chuckle under her breath.

"I know you've heard by now, so don't pretend like you're not thinking I'm just like him in the back of your head."

"I don't."

And she didn't. There was a ring of truth in the girl's voice that made Ayana turn to her surprised. Layla's smile turned a bit more genuine at the obvious confusion on Aryana's face.

"Really?" she asked sounding more shocked then she meant.

Layla nodded.

"Look, just cause your dad was a bad guy doesn't mean you're the same person." she said. "I think you're smart enough to make up your own mind."

"Yeah well, you might be the only one in the school that doesn't think I'll go nuts and kill everyone." she muttered under her breath.

"Yeah, probably." she laughed causing Aryana to do the same. Layla quickly leapt off the wall and waved at her. "Come on."

Aryana looked up, her brow cocked.

"Come on where?"

"To the cafeteria. You can sit with us instead of being out here by yourself."

"I'm pretty sure being seen with me would kill any chance you have of fitting in."

"Yeah well, these aren't exactly the people I want to fit in with." she replied with a grin. "Come on. Or I'll just sit here and bug you until you do."

There was that ring of truth again that made Aryana believe her. Sighing heavily to exaggerate her point, she grabbed her bag, shoved her book inside and followed the hippie into the cafeteria. She knew this was a bad idea but what the hell right? Expecting the group in the cafeteria to turn and give her and Layla whatever looks they could muster, she steeled herself only to find something much more interesting was going to be dominating their time.

The moment they walked through the doors, Will tripped sending his tray flying forward and directly into the back of Warren, the hot-tempered pyrokinetic. He slowly looked up from his book, his face stoic and emotionless but Aryana saw the distinct glimmer of fire burning in the shadows of his eyes.

"Oh this is bad." she muttered, Layla only managing to nod weakly.

Warren suddenly stood, slamming his fists into the top of his lone table and turning his rage on the one responsible. Layla was mouthing 'run' but it did no good when Will's back was to them, Warren the only one that would have been able to see the warning. Will was busy saying his apologies, putting his foot in his mouth judging by the way Warren reacted, grabbing his collar and all but lifting Will off his feet.

"_Nobody_talks about my father." Warren growled.

Will's face dropped when the man's hands ignited, singeing his shirt and sending him reeling back. Warren's arms soon followed suit, burning in a brilliant orange flame.

"Mr. Boy, do something." Layla begged loudly as Warren advanced on Will and in turn them.

Aryana vaguely heard the man say something before sprinting off screaming for the principal. She couldn't keep from rolling her eyes when Warren reached back. Everything seemed to move in slow motion when the fireball was launched. Will had managed to duck down before the thing went whizzing over his head. It was aimed for Layla but Aryana was faster. She shoved the flower child out of the way and took the full brunt of the burn in the back.

She cried out from the flames hitting her in the center of the back, spreading quickly and devouring her sweatshirt. Warren paused for a moment, a brief glimpse into what he was doing before the sheer sight of Will's face made him surge with anger again. His attention shifted to the young man while Layla rushed to Aryana's side. While flame burst after flame burst rang out in the background, Aryana did her best to shed the melting and burning fabric, shoving it away from herself quickly. Layla couldn't help but gasp.

"Oh my god your shirt." she said in a worried voice, noticing the flames had burned straight through to her skin before realizing something that made her scowl. "You're not hurt."

Aryana sighed as she stood and stretched as though more sore than anything. She twisted her back to relieve the tension being hit like that had caused when Will suddenly drew all attention. Their collective jaws dropped at the sight of the young man holding the cafeteria table high above his head, Warren balancing on top.

"Whoa." Aryana muttered before Will tossed Warren like a rag doll, the man slamming into a concrete beam hanging over head.

Aryana winced at the sound of him hitting it before landing in the rubble of another table.

"Oh that's not going to be good."

Layla only shook her head, a fact that was brought to life when they looked to see Warren standing up, firing himself up even more than he had before, charging Will again. This time, Stronghold grabbed the man and threw him through the wall. Four walls to be exact. They could hear Warren in the background, yelling angry insults as he approached. His rage had reached it's peek and Aryana had enough. Before Layla could stop her, she charged the man angrily.

His eyes focused on nothing but the young man in the red, white and blue shirt, all else turning black. White hot rage swelled within him encompassing everything in his life. His anger at his father for leaving, for being sent away to jail where Warren would never see him again, his leaving the young man's mother alone to work harder than before just to support him, even the Commander for having arrested the villain in the first place all grew into an uncontrollable fury and all of it was aimed at one person. Feeling the heat of his fire encompass him, Warren charged the young hero again, screaming loudly.

Aryana had rushed him, trying to grab his arm, turn him around, keep him from doing something invariably stupid that could easily get him sent away. Not willing to let someone with the same dysfuntional background as herself get sucked into the easy world of revenge, she reached for him.

Warren briefly felt something, he thought, touching his arm, but barreled through it like the bull he had become. He was too focused on the task at hand and had no time to do something foolish like think. Gasps and screams were the only thing that seemed to break his delirium, if even for a moment. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aryana fly back and slam, painfully, into a concrete support beam. She winced when she hit the ground. She knew her back had landed right on a chunk of rock instead of the flat surface which would have been preferable. By the time she looked up, Warren was being doused in whatever it was that lay inside a fire extinguisher as Principal Powers walked up, her arms crossed.

Out of nowhere, Layla ran across the scene to the pillar Aryana sat at the base of, Warren slowly standing when he saw it. She knelt by the girl's side, Aryana rolling to her hands and knees so she could stand and revealing the large burn mark on her back. He felt his stomach drop at the sight of her shirt burned away in a large spot in the back, wondering how much damage he had done to her. With Layla's help she stood but needed her support for her knee of all things. She didn't even know how that would have become the primary injury but there you go.

"Take her to Nurse Spex." Powers ordered.

Layla nodded and started walking off with the young woman.

"Your doing I think Mr. Peace?" Powers asked, her voice on edge.

Warren watched as Aryana moved to walk pass them and towards the real door instead of the holes in the wall. She glared hate filled eyes at him that he could have sworn turned black for a moment before shifting back to the steel gray they usually were.

"Detention Room." Powers chimed before her voice dipped to a low resonance. "Now."

The two men moved after their principal to take whatever punishment it was they had to take. Warren kept thinking about what the hell Aryana was thinking and how she had actually been able to touch him while he was on fire.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

"So," the gray haired lady with the thick glasses chimed with a smile. "You must be Miss Gehenna?"

Aryana eyed the crazy old lady for a moment, wondering why she didn't choke on the name like everyone else tended to.

"I knew your dad." she continued as she reached for a thermometer and all but shoving it into the girl's mouth. "Used to be such a nice young man."

Aryana scoffed. No one, not even her dad said anything like that. Spex seemed to notice the action and just looked at her as the thermometer chirped.

"He was," she said again as she read the temperature. "Then just… something went wrong. You seem to have many of his traits too. 102." she smiled, showing her the temperature before putting it away. "So what's wrong?"

"Nothing really. I was hit with a fireball but other than a new shirt I should be fine." she said simply, ignoring the throbbing in her knee.

"Uh-huh. Impervious to fire like you father?"

Aryana reluctantly nodded. She didn't like that she had anything that resembled the man but it was hard to deny. That was part of the reason she hid in her jacket all the time. Her family had… strong traits.

"Well let's have a look see." she said, removing her coke bottle glasses before scanning over the young woman's body. Apparently X-Ray vision didn't save you from bad eye sight with old age. Before she finished, Aryana noticed Spex glance to her knee and scowl, shaking her head slightly before replacing her glasses. "You strained your knee. Almost tore a ligament in there."

"What?" she groaned. "Really?"

"Oh don't worry. It's not too bad. Right now." she said before pointing a finger at the young woman. "Now, it's not too bad now but if you go messing about all willy-nilly, there's no telling what might happen. If you manage to tear your cruciate ligament, no fun there, nope." she said, throwing her hands in the air to apparently demonstrate her point. "So, what I'm going to do is put a brace on your knee and you need to keep it there for about a week."

She groaned again, planting her face into her palm. After all the fights she had been in, being tossed like that actually did damage? Then she thought about it a little more and remembered how she may have done it. When Warren had tossed her and she slid down the wall, she fell and landed directly into her knee on rubble. She growled under her breath.

"Here we go!" she chimed, bringing a thick brace forward. "I'm going to roll up your pants and put in under those so it won't be too obvious okay?"

Aryana nodded as she did what she said she'd do, the young woman wincing at the pain involved. She was going to kill him if she saw him again. Yup. Dead. The thought of how angry she was at the man made her features turn dark again, a growl coming from her throat and her fingernails grow again. Spex seemed to notice and shook her head like a disciplinary mother.

"No, none of that here." she said relatively sternly, forcing the young woman to calm herself and revert to normal.

For now at least. If Spex knew her dad, she knew how bad it was when they lost their temper and thankfully, not even Aryana had gotten that far.

"There we go." she chimed after a while, tightening the last strap and making Aryana suck in a sharp breath. "Now, what classes do you have left?"

"Uh, Gym, History of Heroes and Villain Logic."

Spex laughed when she said Gym.

"Well, I think you might have to stay here till the buses run. You can't go walking around on that." she said before moving into the back and pulling out a cane. Aryana cocked a disbelieving brow to the woman. Did she really expect her to use that, walk around with a freaking cane? "This will help you get around but once you get home, RICE."

The woman creased a disbelieving brow to the old woman again. How was rice supposed to help her? Was the starch magic? The nurse only laughed at her confusion.

"Rest, Ice, gentle Compression and Elevation." she explained, counting on her fingers as she spoke. "Nifty huh? RICE." Aryana nodded slowly, unsure of what else she was supposed to do when the woman got a bowl of suckers. "Candy?"

She took a sucker and eyed it for a moment, not really sure what she was expected to do now.

"Oh, and you'll have to stay home at least a few days."

"What?" she snapped, more outraged by that little tidbit than the brace or the cane. "Why?"

"Well you need to make sure you get as much rest as possible or it'll take longer to heal. You can miss a day of school. I'm sure your teachers can send your work home to you."

This time when Aryana face planted her palm, she did it repeatedly, almost smacking herself in the head until she was nagged at by the nurse. She stopped, reluctantly and laid down on the paper covered 'bed' she had been sitting on.

"Ah, ah, ah. Elevation."

Scowling to herself like a child, Aryana elected to spin, her butt never leaving the bed as she let her head fall over the edge, her leg resting on the inclined back. Nurse Spex smiled her approval before going about her work. Aryana just sat there for a moment, staring at her upside down bag sitting against the wall, not even realizing Layla had grabbed it. She wanted nothing more than to get up and get her I-pod but she wasn't sure the intense throbbing in her knee would allow her to do it. A moment later, Spex reappeared with a shirt folded in her hands for the young woman. Aryana took it politely, still upside down, and unfolded it. She scowled at the school logo prominently displayed on the front. She sighed and let her hands fall lazily onto her chest. This was going to suck. So bad.

0o0

The buses always stayed on the school grounds. She didn't know why but assumed it had something to do with the constantly moving school and that, well, they weren't normal school buses. So she didn't have to wait for them to arrive and thankfully, Spex had told her to leave ten minutes early, knowing how hard it would be for her to walk and how easily she could get bumped or even knocked over by everyone trying to get home. She was happy for the little head start even though she barely got positioned on the back seat of the bus before the bell rang loudly. Aryana growled at the spot she was in but she didn't have a choice. She couldn't bend her damn knee so Warren was going to have to kiss her ass for taking his spot. It was his damn fault in the first place.

Aryana's eyes began to stare blankly out the windows, focusing more on the clouds than anything else. Layla had stopped by during a passing period to see what the diagnosis was and couldn't believe it had been so severe. She thanked Aryana profusely for pushing her out of the way with the fire ball and told her she'd pay her back. Aryana told her it was fine, that wasn't even what hurt her. It was her own stupidity that got her hurt so Layla didn't have to worry about anything. The Hippie didn't care and instead got the girl's phone number so she could check on her or fill her in on anything. If Aryana hadn't known any different, she thought she may have a friend. Weird…

"You're in my…"

Warren had walked onto the bus to find Aryana sitting in his seat. He mused silently over her knew shirt before walking up to her. If she touched his skin while it was on fire, than obviously fire couldn't hurt her so he wasn't worried about third degree burns or anything. He still wasn't sure what to think or really do in regards to the aftermath, his tossing her aside like he had. He hadn't meant to do it but the damage had been done and he had to try and figure out how the hell he was supposed to proceed from that. Then again, maybe she wasn't hurt all that bad to begin with. After all, Stronghold had thrown him through a few walls without so much as a scratch. That thought stopped however when he walked up and saw her lightly twisting a cane back and forth in her hand, hidden by the seat in front of it, her leg up on the seat as though to keep people off. The cane had snapped his mouth shut quickly.

Hearing the familiar gruff voice, Aryana turned her head slowly to the man, her eyes instantly shifting a horrifying black. He had been right before in the cafeteria. Like before, her nails started to grow and her features slowly began to change before she closed her eyes and looked away, taking deep breaths to calm down. A moment later, she looked back through the window, everything back to normal as she ignored the man.

"What happened to you?" he asked, partially curious. He was fairly certain she didn't have a cane before.

"Some asshole threw me into a cement pillar today. I screwed up my knee and now I have to take time off school because of it." she replied in an eerily calm voice that made his hair stand on end.

Warren slowly took the seat in front of her, guilt swelling inside. He had seen her limp off but had assumed it was just from hitting the wall, that nothing had actually been hurt. But still she said nothing. She didn't fly off the handle, scream, yell insults of whatever at the man. She just sat there, staring out the window and lightly twisting the top of the cane in her palm, lazily letting the weight of her arm shift it from side to side as they set off.

Warren had never raised his hand to a woman, ever, in his entire life. But he did today. He never even pushed a chick before but for some reason, he decided it would be a good idea to start now with her and the thing he feared most had happened. She had actually been hurt. He had raised his hand to a woman and seriously hurt her. His eyes forward, he couldn't help but rub his hand over his mouth when they landed on the Earth's surface again.

As was the fashion the day before, Warren and Aryana were the last ones to be left off the bus but one had a bit more trouble than the other. Finally, before she even made it pass the seat he had been sitting in, she growled her frustration and threw her backpack and cane through the window, the cane clanking loudly while her bag did nothing more than thud onto the soft grass.

When he reached the front of the bus, Warren glanced back briefly to see her using the seats for support, cursing and spewing angry insults under her breath before finally making it to solid ground outside. Warren had made it to the sidewalk when she emerged and he wasn't sure if it was sick curiosity or just whether or not he thought she was lying but when he was a few feet away, he turned to see if she was still 'injured'. Like it would have changed in the past ten minutes. But it didn't and she was.

He felt his stomach drop again, filled to the brim with guilt when she hobbled towards her fallen pieces and struggled to pick them up. As big a pain in the ass she was, he felt horrible for what he'd done and reduced her to when all she was trying to do was keep him from doing something stupid. Lot of good that did either of them. Still he watched, ensuring she got her things before setting off towards her house without her so much as looking back at him.

~~~ 


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Aryana grumbled and complained under her breath as she made her way towards her house. She was not looking forward to having to stay in one place, this place of all, for a solid twenty four hours let alone longer. She didn't even do that on the weekends. Half the time she would take Tony and get the hell out of dodge going anywhere that wasn't there. The only thing she could think was now she had no choice. They were both stuck in this hell hole with those… people until Aryana's leg was heeled enough for them to go hide or until she graduated and could hopefully take care of him. Living in a place like that was going to screw him up easily and if she didn't do something about it, she'd blame herself forever.

As usual, she could hear Martha inside yelling as her lazy ass husband Joseph. Seriously, that man was useless and an idiot to boot. A toxic mix when you throw in a dash of unbridled rage. He was old, had a beer gut any man would be impressed with, not because they wanted one but because it hadn't burst yet, and bathed about once a week. He was just an all around disgusting human being and honestly, she hated him.

She shook her head, standing outside, not even on the porch yet and already she was considering running away. The dilapidated house, in desperate need of a paint job, a match, perhaps a gallon of gasoline, something to just make it look better, loomed over her like a haunted house in old movies. The paint was chipped in a couple of places which honestly wasn't too bad, it was more because of the busted front window that was 'fixed' with a black tarp taped to it and the random junk strewn everywhere. Hell, even the grass was too scared to grow close enough to the house to make it look habitable.

"You worthless, lazily piece of…" Martha shrieked sending shivers down Aryana's spine.

A rustling to her left drew the young woman's attention. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a leg peeking out from the other side of the tree behind her. She smiled and gimped her way closer to see the boy attached to the worn sneaker. He was reading a comic book she had gotten him for the hundredth time. It was his favorite.

"Hey kid." she smiled.

Tony looked up and beamed with an ear to ear smile, his freckles only adding to his innocence. She smiled back as he hurried to stand and hug her tightly. She winced when he hit her hard enough to take her off balance but let it go. He seemed to notice something wasn't right and slowly pulled back. He stared at the cane, noticing the bulge at her knee and how she favored one side. Jesus, for eight he was too smart and too observant.

"You hurt your knee at school today didn't you?" he asked with a cocked brow.

"It wasn't my fault." she defended.

He only crossed his arms and shook his head like a disappointed parent.

"It's not too bad." she smiled. "A guy got carried away and I tried to stop him. Lucky shot I guess."

He knelt down and looked at her, gently poking the side of her knee making her take in a sharp breath.

"You know I'd tell you if you'd ask." she growled.

"This is more fun." he smiled before standing. "Cruciated ligament. Not torn but bruised I think."

"You're such a know it all." she sighed.

And he was. It was his power. His brain was unrivaled and honestly, she could probably teach Medulla a few things. It was amazing to her that he could just look at something and with little to no information, depending on the subject, he'd already have it all figured out. Like with her knee. He looked at the signs and with only a poke, he knew. He was an amazing kid and she loved him. With a smile, she looped her arm around his shoulder and hugged him to her.

"So," she sighed, leaning her back against the tree though she didn't sit. "How long have they been at it?"

He shrugged.

"As long as I've been home at least."

"Haven't gone inside?"

He shook his head, kicking something near her feet. She glanced down to see his backpack resting at the base of the tree. He had been using it as a pillow of sorts while he read his comic book.

"Don't you get home almost an hour before me?"

He nodded grimly. She shook her head. As soon as she could, she was going to get him the hell out of here. She may not have a distinct future, she had no delusions about it, but Tony would be able to do anything, literally anything, if he wanted to. She was fairly certain by the time he was thirty he'd know everything anyway but it was getting there without being jacked up that was the trick.

"So what page are you on?" she sighed, groaning and wincing slightly as she slid down the tree to sit, her knee throbbing uncontrollably from standing for so long.

Tony smiled and grabbed his comic book, moving his bag so he could lean on it next to her and opened it up where he had left off. He read it to her like he always did whenever they wanted to distract themselves.

0o0

The next day, Warren had been called into Powers' office and he was less than enthusiastic about it. He was worried it might have something to do with the damage he and Stronghold had caused in the cafeteria, teacher's lounge and all of the rooms between. He had knocked on the door and entered when she called him in. She was busy on the phone, talking to someone and apparently not getting a word in edgewise. She motioned for him to sit which he did, nervously. Despite her pleasant exterior, Powers was an accomplished hero and could be scary as hell.

Five minutes had passed before she had finished her conversation. Sighing heavily, she rubbed the side of her head as though she was getting, or currently had a migraine. Judging by the conversation she had just had, it was probably a little of both.

"Some parents I swear…" she muttered before looking to the man across from her and fixing herself to a more respectful and intimidating pose. "Mr. Peace," she said in a tone that made his skin crawl. Again, deceptively sweet with a warning edge. He didn't like it. "You and Mr. Stronghold caused quite a bit of damage yesterday."

_"Damn it."_ he thought to himself.

"But you, a little more."

His brow tensed. How'd she figure that? He didn't throw someone through four walls and pillars that crumbled.

"But Stronghold," he growled.

"Didn't injure another student." she interrupted.

Warren immediately sank back into his seat and shut his mouth. This wasn't about property damage. She nodded, seeing his understanding.

"Miss Gehenna is going to be out of school for the next three days as per doctor's orders." she said simply. "She's going to miss a great deal of school work."

"Yes ma'am." he muttered under his breath, the words barely audible.

"Which is why you're going to take it to her. Everyday she's out of school, you're going to bring her her work."

His face dropped slightly.

"Do we have an understanding?"

"Yes ma'am." he repeated in the same tone.

"Thank you." she chimed in a chipper, happy voice. "That'll be all Mr. Peace."

He nodded and stood, making his way out of the office and grumbling his anger when he opened the door.

"Oh Mr. Peace," Powers called from her desk. He turned to see her still smiling, holding out a piece of paper. "You'll need her address and class schedule."

He didn't answer as he walked back to her, took the paper and walked back out, this time a little faster so she couldn't call him back in for something.

As he made his way to gym for class, Warren read the small piece of paper. It was a copy of her class schedule with her address written in the bottom corner. He cocked a brow, surprised how many of their classes they shared and how easy it would be to actually get her work. At least that was going to make things easier. Helped too that she lived so close. He had made it up in his mind that he'd be in and out, fast as possible, not even setting foot inside if he could help it. He was fine just handing the work off to her mom and running away as fast as he could before he was forced to remember what he'd done.

When the day had finally come to a close, Warren had a packet of crap for Aryana from her classes ranging from worksheets to finish to a pop quiz and even some notes. It made him wonder how much crap he'd get in a day but just never noticed because he didn't keep it all together like this. He titled his head to the side, scowling slightly at the quarter inch thick 'packet' of paper he held. This was just one day? And she was going to be gone for three? A chuckle left his throat. That had to suck, to do work you've never seen before.

He was still mulling over everything, including how he had gotten wrangled into this, when the bus stopped and he realized he had spaced out through the entire trip. He shrugged to himself and heaved his body up out of his seat, slinging his bag over his shoulder and exiting. He nearly went left like he always did before remembering he had a side trip to take. He turned on his heel and headed down the street to the address written on the bottom of the schedule, grateful he knew the neighborhood enough to recognize the street name.

Still examining the piece of paper to make sure the numbers were right, Warren realized he was only two houses down which meant he could see where she lived by now. His back tensed. She lived in _that_ house.

Everyone knew _that_ house.

You know that one house in a relatively nice neighborhood that's just not as nice as the others, that has the lawn that's never really cut when it should be until you could lose a soccer ball in it, a broken down car in the driveway and crazy ass people living there? Yeah, everyone knows _that_ house. She lived in _that_ house. He cocked a skeptical brow before proceeding whether he wanted to or not.

The porch screamed at him with each heavy footed step. The wood was old and definitely needed to have been taken care of at least ten years ago. He stood at the door and raised his fist to knock when he heard yelling within. He froze for a moment, contemplating putting her work in the mailbox and just waiting for them to find it instead of handing it to her himself. He couldn't make out exactly what was being said but he was fairly certain a man was yelling something about beer. Shaking his head, he knocked.

All action seemed to have stopped within the house before he heard people scrambling. Did they think he was the cops or something? The thought made him look down at his clothing and smile slightly. Dirty cops or under cover's didn't even dress like this. But still there was rustling and clanking glass before someone stepped towards the door. He could see the shadow through the dingy curtain before the corner was snapped back, a blood shot blue eye staring at him. The action made him jump slightly.

"Who are you?' a female voice demanded.

"Warren." he answered with a grimace. "I've got some school work for Aryana."

He heard the woman huff under her breath before going about unlocking the door. He heard at least three and wondered if she was trying to keep people out, or in. A moment later the door swung open to reveal a woman that he had not expected to see. He felt his brow crease slightly at the petite little woman wearing a moomoo far too big for her frame, ratter hair in curlers and a cigarette hanging from her mouth with a glass nearly filled with what smelled like scotch in her hand.

She eyed him up and down. She was looking at him a little too closely for his liking and it made him fidget, something he didn't do often. If ever. Perhaps it was the fact she looked like some kind of ferret instead of a person that made him so uneasy. Finally, she took a deep breath, inhaling more smoke than he did air in a day, tapping the ash just outside her doorway.

"Upstairs. Second door on the right." she said simply, moving out of the way.

He felt his skin crawl at the beady eyed little woman before he stepped in, still keeping his eyes on her until he was at the stairs. At least on those he'd be able to hear her if she came up behind him. Instead she scuttled off to god knows where. Maybe she was going back to her nest underneath the house.

Warren took weary steps up the stairs, each one creaking under his weight. Everything in the house looked so dried and old he was sure if he lit up, it would go up in flames. On the other hand, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea. Reaching the top, he walked passed a particularly creepy picture of a hobo clown that he swore followed him when he walked by it and made it to the second door on the right. He paused for a second, wondering if she might be sleeping before he found himself knocking.

_"Damn it Tony. I told you, I'm not playing Battle Ship with you. You've already memorized every possible strategy."_ she called through the door.

He eyed the bare wooden door curiously for a moment before clearing his throat.

"Uh, I'm not Tony."

He heard a pause for a moment.

_"Come in?"_

It was an uncertain question more than a welcoming statement but he understood. It wasn't like she could really get up and see who it was. So, he took the knob and opened the door. Aryana was sitting propped up on her bed, awaiting who the mystery voice belonged to only to sigh and fall back onto her bed with an exaggerated movement.

"Kind of dramatic isn't it?" he asked sarcastically.

"Hello Warren." she uttered with little to no enthusiasm.

He glared at her for a moment, considering throwing the homework at her only to suddenly feel like he was being watched. Turning, Warren noticed the little old lady was staring at him from the base of the stairs, still smoking her cigarette. He shuddered internally and took a wide step into the room.

"She's watching you isn't she?"

He glanced up and noticed Aryana wasn't even looking at him, just staring at her ceiling still.

"Yeah." he mumbled.

"You can close the door. She's just going to move closer if you don't."

Faster than he meant to, Warren all but kicked the thing shut.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

He heard Aryana giggle lightly and for the first time actually took a look around. Her room was simple, small, really small. It bordered on a closet. It had a single window to the left of the bed which was shoved into the far right corner of the room. She had a short dresser that took up a whole wall, no closet and a mirror hanging above the dresser. That was, quite literally, all there was to it. It was more bleak than he thought it would have been. He did his best not to make a face at how depressing it was when he turned back to her.

His face suddenly went blank. Warren was a little more than surprised by what he saw. Aryana had light skin, really light that seemed to lack that pink hue that people had when they were fair, like she had a gray undertone instead. It was odd but suited her. Her hair, which he had never seen before, was down in jet black waves with chunks of blue like his red visible within and brushed to the side over her shoulder easily falling to her elbows. Instead of all but drowning in clothes like she seemed to do, willingly, on a regular basis, she was wearing nothing more than a small pair of shorts and a wife beater. He had never seen this much skin on her and he was fairly certain no one had.

"So, what brings you to my lovely abode?" she asked sarcastically, propping herself back up to better see the person she was speaking to given her leg was immobile and propped on a folded pillow.

"Powers told me to bring you your homework." he said, setting it down on the edge of her bed.

"Here I was thinking you did it out of the kindness of your heart." she said in the same tone, stretching forward and barely reaching it with a grunt before flipping through it. "Assuming you have a heart." she muttered.

Warren shot her a glare she didn't bother looking up to acknowledge. He thought it he pressed it hard enough maybe she would but instead her attention shifted to the door. She glared hatefully at it.

"Martha, he's a friend from school. Go away!" she snapped.

Warren just eyed her curiously for a second before she went back to what she was doing. He was about to make a comment about her losing her mind from being in bed only to hear footsteps leaving the door.

"Sorry about her. She reminds me of a rat, scurrying around the house looking for tidbits of something." she replied.

Warren looked at her slightly surprised, something she did catch. She looked up to see the curious expression.

"What?" she asked with a shrug.

"You talk about your mom that way?"

"Ho whoa!" she interrupted, shaking her head vigorously at the man. "Oh no, _hell_ no. Martha is not my mom. Jesus no." she shuddered visibly. "She's just a leech that gets paid to keep me around."

Warren looked at her for a moment, wondering if she just said what he thought she did. If he heard right, she was in Foster Care and that woman was her foster mother. Understanding washed over his features and she noticed.

"Ding, ding, ding." she chimed. "The lovely Mr. and Mrs. Roberts take in wayward children, such as myself, and get a nice monthly stipend for it which they blow on nothing but booze and cigarettes."

"That sucks." he replied, unsure of what else to say.

"Yup," she said in a light voice, as she looked through the final few papers. "But that's what happens if your parents die when you're five."

She said it so matter-of-factly that it took him a minute to realize what exactly had been said. He nodded to himself when everything finally sifted through his brain. Aryana looked up at him, setting the papers on the bed beside her so they were close when she needed them. Warren met her eyes, surprised she was actually looking directly at him for once.

"Thanks." she finally said. "For my homework."

"No problem." he replied in his normal careless voice.

"Well I mean, it's your fault that I'm here yeah, but you were brave enough to walk through the front door. That's what I'm saying thanks for."

He narrowed his eyes on her slightly only to see her lips turn up into a mocking smirk. His face lightened but he smiled inwardly when her door opened. He feared for a second that it was the creepy old woman only to see a small blond haired boy with big green eyes and freckles walk in. The kid seemed as surprised by Warren as he was by the kid. They stood staring at one another for a moment before Aryana spoke.

"Warren, Tony. Tony, Warren."

Warren nodded to the kid who did the same in response until Aryana saw a familiar look cross the boy's face.

"Hey, Tony no. Stop it."

"What?" he shrugged indifferently, walking into the room and sitting next to her.

Warren only looked at her slightly alarmed. She smiled, hugging the kid to her chest and mussing his hair just because she could. Tony groaned his annoyance before sitting up and fixing it.

"Tony has powers too." she explained. "He can look at something and within a few minutes he knows how it works. He understands everything and I mean everything."

"That's pretty cool kid." Warren replied.

"Thanks. What about you?"

The tall man looked to Aryana as though asking permission. After all, this was her house. She narrowed her eyes for a moment.

"Think you can control it this time?"

"I've been doing this longer than you." he snapped.

"I doubt that." she smiled.

He only shook his head, hiding his own grin beneath his long hair before igniting his arms. Tony shot back from the fire and landed directly on top of Aryana's knee. She growled loudly causing Warren to stop and Tony to freeze. He quickly realized what he had done and immediately began to apologize for it. She shook her head trying to steady her breath and held up her hand to stop him.

"It's okay Tony." she said with more effort than she should have needed. "I promise, it's alright."

"You sure?" Warren asked with a disbelieving grimace. "Looks like it hurts."

"Well, get me a mallet and I'll show you."

"You're not going to let it go are you?"

"As long as I have to use a cane," she laughed. "No."

He only shook his head when arguing began downstairs. All three turned to the door and listened for a moment, Warren becoming increasingly uncomfortable the longer he had to sit there and listen to it.

"Tony, you know the drill. Show him out." Aryana sighed, obviously as embarrassed as he was.

Tony nodded and stood, walking to Aryana's window and opening it. Warren looked at her curiously.

"It's easier. Trust me. By now they forgot you were even here." she sighed.

"Ok…" he muttered, not really sure he understood but watched as Tony jumped out the window and onto the porch roof outside it. He glanced back to Aryana. "Well uh, bye I guess. I'll see you tomorrow."

He had bent through the window when she finally seemed to understand his words.

"Why?" she asked thoroughly confused.

He pulled back.

"Powers has me bringing all your stuff till you come back to school." he explained.

"Oh. Well next time, use the window. Trust me, easier." she replied. He nodded and moved to the window again as the arguing got louder. "Hey Peace."

He looked back.

"Thanks." she said with a genuine smile.

He paused for a moment and looked at her, his eyebrow slowly raising.

"Hurt yourself with that one?" he asked sarcastically.

"Yes. Now get out." she shot back with a slight smile.

Warren smiled to himself and stepped out of the window. Tony was waiting for him at the edge just above the metal slide. Warren glanced at it, wondering how often they did this before doing as the kid instructed and jumping onto it before climbing down the small ladder and walking home. When he looked back, Tony was sliding back into her window and presumably closing it behind him.


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm going to give you guys fair warning now. This chapter is rough. And I mean rough. Abuse, all kinds of stuff. So, if you don't want to read it, don't. Don't read it and get pissed, leaving me a long post cause you're angry with what I did. I gave you fair warning. And FYI, Joseph does get what's coming to him by the end of the story.  
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**Chapter Eight**

Like he had before, Warren went through the classes and gathered everything Aryana would need for her homework. He got on the bus, went home and after dropping his stuff at home and checking his schedule to see if he had to work, he headed towards Aryana's house down the street. He had two hours before his shift, plenty of time to give her her work but tomorrow he'd have to do it after since he had to go straight to the Lantern after school.

When he walked up the driveway, he remembered what Aryana had told him and went to the metal slide and climbed the stairs. He stood at the top for a moment, wondering how safe it was to really to jump _from_ the slide. He was sure that if he fell, he would make sure to rub it in her face. But after taking sure footing, he jumped onto the porch rooftop and moved towards her window. He felt odd, going to a girl's window especially when it was Aryana's but he wasn't he'd be able to deal with Martha again. Just thinking about her made him shudder.

As he approached the window, he glanced in and saw her sitting in the same spot she was in before, in different clothing but reading a book like she had before. She seemed lost in her own world as a smile touched the man's face. Being the ass he was and unable to resist the chance, Warren slammed his palm against the window hard.

Aryana jumped and immediately produced a flaming fist before seeing Warren on the other side. She sighed, knowing he was an ass but now having proof to the fact. She waved him in and with a secret smile, he pushed the window up and slid inside.

"Think that was funny do you?" she asked, still irritated she had jumped.

"Kind of yeah." he replied with a cocky grin before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the homework for the day. "Here."

"Thanks." she sighed, taking it from him and flipping through it like she had the previous pieces.

"So you just sit here all day, doing nothing?" he asked, glancing around and realizing there was nothing in the ways of entertainment. Not really at least.

"Basically." she sighed. "I'm about to shoot myself in the head."

He glanced over and noticed her smiling slightly.

"You can sit down." she finally said with a light laugh. "I feel kind of bad to have you standing."

"Are you going to try and kick me with your gimp leg?" he asked sarcastically.

"My leg no. The cane maybe."

His lips twitched into a smile though he'd never let her see it. He stood there for a moment and realized his eyes had fallen to her injury again and felt himself scowl. There it was again, the guilt. He knew he should apologize, easily the thing you should do when you throw them into a wall, but he was bad at it. It just wasn't something he did but part of him felt like she deserved at least that.

"Hey Aryana," he said under his breath.

Aryana looked to him shocked for the simple fact he said her name. Her reaction was well written across her face. It forced him to back step a second, thinking something else was wrong.

"What's wrong?" she finally asked after a decent amount of silence.

He looked up at her again when arguing suddenly started again downstairs. She sighed heavily, running her fingers through hair before pressing them to her temples.

"Is it always like this?" he asked, amazed that they were having another knock down, drag out fight like they had begun to have yesterday.

"Yeah," she finally said under her breath. "And as soon as I graduate, I'm taking Tony and getting the hell out of here."

Suddenly, through the muffled yells from a story below, they heard a distinct slap. The two in the room froze, wondering who had hit who and what the hell was going on. Aryana was sitting up in her bed, staring almost frightened at the door when she heard the quick footsteps of someone coming up the stairs. Her head snapped to Warren.

"Peace go." she said quickly, the man frowning at her slightly. She met his eyes and he could see fear and begging behind the steel grey when her door burst open. Tony didn't even seem to notice the man as he ran crying into her arms. She hugged him tightly, cradling him gently. "Shhh, it's okay. I've got you." she cooed lightly before turning back to Warren. "Please. If Joseph finds out you're in here…" she hissed, her door still wide open when her sentence was cut off by heavy foot falls.

"Where tha hell you go boy?" Joseph bellowed.

"Warren," Aryana gasped, turning to the man with fear in her face. It worried him. Not even when she squared off against him did she looked like this. "Please."

He had frozen for a moment, torn between fighting a guy that would pick on a kid and doing what she wanted him to in order to keep things calmer than they might be if he didn't. Against his better judgment, he rushed for the window.

"Don't worry about my work." she said quickly, second before the footsteps reached them. "I'll see you at school just go."

And he was gone, rushing through the window seconds before the bulldog of a man came lumbering through the bedroom door, his face beet red and sweating, probably from climbing the steps. Aryana just felt herself grateful Warren had left, not having to see how fucked up this 'family' was then he already had. And in her opinion, he had seen more than enough. He had seen her horrible house with her horrible guardians and heard them at their best. Now, they were at their worst.

So she sat there, for the hundredth time, hugging Tony to her chest while he clung desperately to her, Joseph lingering over head. She glared hate filled eyes at him. If she wasn't hurt, she'd fight him as long as she could but at the moment there was little she could manage.

"Get. Out." she growled angrily.

"Don't tell me what to do in my own house!" he bellowed.

"He's just a child!" she screamed back.

"He's a smart ass know it all!"

"Get out of my room now you pathetic excuse for a…"

The room had gone deathly silent.

What Aryana didn't know was Warren hadn't left. He had barely any time to duck out of the view of the window when Joseph had barreled into the room. He had hesitated for a moment, knowing if he moved and made a sound things would get bad. He didn't think they'd get that way anyhow. When he heard the slap, his hands began to tingle and he knew they were only seconds from going up in flames. He was scowling so hard it hurt, waiting, straining to hear what was going on.

"Talk to me like that again!" Joseph demanded. "I dare you!"

Aryana glared angrily at the man through teary eyes. It wasn't that he had hurt her, not really, it was that his slap stung more than anything.

"Fuck you!" she screamed suddenly. "You're pathetic! If my dad was still alive…"

"But he ain't! And you're nothing more than some demon offspring!"

That's it, his hands were on fire and it was beginning to creep up his arms.

"I swear, if you ever lay a hand on him again…" she hissed as Tony clung tighter to her, shaking slightly. "I will personally rip out your _fucking_ eyes and shove them down your throat."

"You ain't gonna do nothing. Now give me that boy, he's got to deal with me now." he growled.

"Go Tony, run." Aryana finally called.

Almost immediately, Tony emerged through the window just before large arms lunged after him, the frame of the man not making it through the window before the little boy sprinted pass Warren, down the slide and to some undisclosed location without even noticing he was there let alone partially lit.

"I've had enough!" Joseph growled. "Time to teach you a lesson."

Suddenly Warren heard Aryana scream. He ran to the window in time to see what the hell was happening to her. Joseph was touching her leg and not even her injured one. Black mist seemed to be flowing from Aryana and into Joseph, a wide smiled on his face. She, on the other hand, looked like she was in pure agony, screaming as her eyes watered. Suddenly, almost as quickly as it had started, everything stopped. The man just smiled at Aryana, clenched his fist and relaxing it before laughing.

"Smart off like that again, and I'll put you in a coma." he bragged before walking out of the room leaving her there.

When the man was gone, Warren slipped back in through the window and rushed to her side. He lightly touched her cheek to try and make her head sit straight on the pillow but she couldn't even manage that.

"Aryana," he muttered, trying to rouse her.

The young woman winced slightly, her eyes barely making it open. He looked worriedly at her, not sure what the hell had just happened. But as soon as her eyes ever opened, he noticed them begin to tear.

"Tony…" she asked in a weak, broken voice.

"Ran off." he muttered, trying to keep quiet since the door remained open.

She clenched her eyes shut, releasing the tears that lingered in her lashes before looking at him.

"You have to make sure he's okay. Please," she begged. "He's only a little kid."

"He ran off. I don't know where he is." he defended, still surging with rage at what he had just seen and heard.

"The park." she said. "The park a couple blocks away. He's in the tires."

He nodded before looking over her.

"I'm fine. Go check on Tony." she said, her voice still shaking as a bruise started to form on her cheek from the hit. "Please."

"Okay." he reluctantly agreed.

Slowly he stood and made his way towards the window, glancing over at the young woman to see her still wincing, holding her stomach as though she were sick. He felt horrible leaving her there after seeing what the hell went on in this fucked up house but she didn't seem concerned with herself. She was more worried about Tony than anything.

Resigning to the fact that he couldn't do anything about it now, he slid out of the window and made his way towards the park that was actually about three houses down from his own. And he knew what tires she was talking about too. On the playground there were a set of four giant tractor tires that were dug partially into the ground and upright so kids could run through them or even along the top. He knew exactly what she was talking about and made his way towards them, already visible in the distance. He found himself jogging the rest of the way, almost _needing_ to know if the kid was alright.

As he rounded the corner at the edge of the park, Warren leapt effortlessly over the small rope fence that was only about knee high and moved towards the tires. He didn't see anything, not an indication of the kid or even that he had been there at all. He started to get worried.

"Tony." he called quietly at first. "Tony." he called a little louder. "It's Warren. Aryana sent me to find you."

He was standing there, staring at the brightly painted tires when something in the far corner caught his eyes. He saw a small frame poking it's head out from behind the furthest tire from him. He turned his body to show Tony who he was, his hands up lightly. Slowly, Tony emerged, glancing around as though Warren may have been followed. Suddenly he ran for the young man, wrapping his arms around Warren's waist. He froze for a moment, unsure of what really to do until his hands eventually came down and lightly hugged the kid's shoulders, unable to do much else from the angle. Eventually he pulled back, Warren taking a knee to look Tony in the eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

"You okay?" he asked, genuinely concerned and surprising himself by letting the emotion touch his face.

Honestly, he always had a soft spot for kids. They couldn't help but tag along in bullshit like this. It wasn't like they could get away. Cops would just bring them right back.

Tony nodded but his eyes were still teary, his cheek pink from where he had been hit. Seeing the evidence of what the bastard had done written across the little kid's face made Warren want to light up again. He scowled.

"Aryana?" he asked in a broken voice. Despite how well spoken he had been last time, he was still just a kid.

"She's still there." Warren answered, Tony's face immediately crinkling up as though he was about to cry. "Tony, what'd he do to her? When he touched her skin?"

Tony's eyes all but shot wide.

"He drained her?" he asked, horrified.

"What do you mean?"

"He has powers." Tony clarified, the 'adult' tone returning to his voice. "That's why they placed us with him, cause he's got a power that can 'control' us if we get out of hand. He can drain us of everything, powers, energy, everything. How bad is she?"

"She was talking." he said, not really sure how bad it could have been but after hearing what Tony said and Joseph telling her he'd put her in a coma next time, he feared it could have been a lot worse. "How long till it wears off?"

"Could she open her eyes? Talk in coherent sentences?"

Warren nodded, slightly surprised and eight year old could talk like that.

"With her existing injury, she should be back to normal some time tomorrow afternoon. Almost twenty-four hours."

He didn't know if he should be grateful that it would only take a good night's rest or uncomfortable with the fact that this apparently happened enough for Tony, a kid, to know what symptoms meant what time frame.

"Can you do me a favor kid?" he finally asked.

Tony nodded.

"Can you hide out for a while so I can go get her?"

Tony sighed, shaking his head slightly.

"There's no point. The cops just take us back when they report us as runaways."

"They won't find you this time."

"They'll take Aryana at school and arrest her. If she gets in trouble she'll lose the scholarship and she won't graduate and if she doesn't graduate she can't take me when she turns eighteen." he said, almost babbling in one long sentence, the tears forming again.

"Okay, okay." he said quickly, trying to keep the kid from crying. He was never good with tears no matter who they came from. "Then what do you normally do? When this… happens."

The phrase tasted disgusting in his mouth. It was bad enough something like this happened once let alone on a regular basis.

"I stay here until she comes to get me when they've passed out but now she's hurt so she can't leave." he said sadly.

Warren felt another stab at being the one that had caused the injury that was keeping her from being Tony's savior like she had been for however long. Then something crossed his mind when he looked back at Tony.

"How long have you guys been with these people?" he asked with a stern scowl.

Tony thought about it for a moment.

"I've been there for a year but Aryana's been there for a lot longer. She's never told me how long."

He nodded his understanding and felt a slight twinge, thinking in his mind that this may have been her _only_ foster family. She was too young to really remember her parents, hiding in the shadow of her dad's reputation and then stuck with people like the Roberts. Jesus, and he thought his life was bad being the kid of Barron Battle.

"Come on."

The voice brought him too and Warren realized that Tony was leading him back towards the house. His brow tensed.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked, standing and following.

"Back to the house. I don't want to leave her there by herself."

Warren had to admit he was slightly impressed by the kid who was just that, a kid. He wasn't even old enough for fourth grade yet and here he was, leading Warren Peace back into that god awful house. Unwilling to let him go by himself, especially when Warren was still willing to roast that fat bastard like a suckling pig, he followed after Tony.

When the two had made their way back, Tony the first through the window, Warren could hear Aryana whimpering lightly within the house. He had one foot inside and one out when he saw her laying on the bed, asleep, her hand twitching lightly and her brow tensing before relaxing repeatedly as though she was having some kind of nightmare. He wondered how deep a sleep she was in. Tony stood next to her, muttering her name after slowly closing the door for privacy. She didn't stir from his words. Tony took a step back and scratched his head.

"She's not going to like this…" he muttered.

Warren cocked a brow to the kid that seemed to be planning something. Suddenly his eyes went up to the tall man with black and red hair, a smile touching his lips.

"What?" he asked slightly uncomfortable.

"You do it."

"Do what?" he asked a bit worried.

"Well if she flames up, it won't hurt you right? You do fire too."

"Not following you kid."

"Pinch her ear."

"What?" he snapped louder than he meant to, immediately being hushed by Tony. "What?" he repeated in a lower voice.

"Pinch. Her. Ear." he repeated in a way Warren was sure he'd speak to a simpleton. He scowled at the kid that stood barely high enough to hit his ribcage.

"What's that going to do?"

"Wake her up." he stated as though it were obvious.

"She needs to sleep."

Tony just sighed.

"She needs to get out of here and sleep somewhere else otherwise he's going to come up here and drain her again just because he can." Tony snapped, sounding more like an adult than Warren felt comfortable hearing. "He's done it before."

Warren looked from him to the woman sleeping on the bed and back to the kid.

"No." he finally said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Do it."

"No." he repeated.

"Just do it."

"You." Warren shot back.

"You." Tony argued.

This was ridiculous and it wasn't Warren that ended it. Instead, Tony moved forward and lightly brushed her hair out of the way revealing her ear. Warren narrowed his eyes slightly. Her ears were… pointed. Like an elf… Oh he was going to use that later. His attention shifted back to what Tony was doing and watched as he took the tip of her ear gently in his fingers and pinched before suddenly ducking next to the bed.

"Oh you little…"

Was all Warren got out of his mouth before he got a fireball to the face. Tony was smiling wide while Peace stood there smoldering, annoyed and feeling like he should kick the kid's ass because he knew this would happen.

"Ow." Aryana hissed, their attention shifting to the young woman holding her ear.

She looked exhausted, bags almost forming under her eyes despite the wide handed bruise across the right side of her face. She saw Warren but there was confusion on her face before her arm shot down and fished for where she knew the kid was hiding. She found his shirt and heaved him up to look at her, still frowning.

"Ow." she repeated as though illustrating her point.

He simply shrugged at her.

"I needed you awake." he replied. "And you know that's the only thing that works. You sleep too deep."

"Yeah well, be here as long as I have and you learn to block out loud noises." she replied dryly, her mind coming back to her to see Warren still standing there. "You were supposed to leave."

"I don't listen to anybody. What makes you think I'd listen to you?" he asked with a curt smile.

She cocked a brow and nodded her head dazed.

"Fair enough. What'd you need Tony? I know there's got to be a reason you stab the hell out of my ear." she said, rubbing her pointed ear as though everyone in the room knew it was normal.

"You need to get out of here." he told her simply.

She looked kind of confused, like he had just asked her a complex math problem. Apparently she wasn't all there yet.

"Go where?" she asked in a stern voice, not liking where this was going.

"Anywhere. Go to school tomorrow."

She looked drunk and surprised. It would have been funny if he didn't know the truth behind it. Aryana's head turned lazily to her knee and back to the young boy standing by her bed side like a concerned parent.

"How? Hobble about?"

"Quit whining." he sighed, rolling his eyes. Warren and Aryana both looked at him slightly surprised.

"When the hell did you get like this?" she asked. "I'm supposed to be the adult."

Warren scoffed.

"Hey." she snapped making his smile linger. She narrowed her eyes but still looked drunk before she turned back to Tony. "We're stuck. For two years. We just need to stick it out."

"Oh come on."

Attention shifted to Warren's outburst. The two looked relatively surprised.

"Why can't you just get another family?" he asked, slightly annoyed because he couldn't do anything.

"A, they'd separate us. B, they wouldn't do it anyway." Aryana replied.

"The hell not? I've met villains nicer than these assholes."

"Haven't you heard? I'm the unstable offspring of America's worst Supervillain. The Slayer of Heroes. I can't be placed with just anyone. I might go crazy one day and start killing people." she said, her voice dripping with so much sarcasm, he felt like he was swimming in it. He narrowed his eyes at her. "It's true." he scoffed again and it was beginning to annoy her. "Name one person in the world that would take someone like me in." she hissed under her breath so the others wouldn't hear her.

"My mom." he snapped back.

The group kind of sat there for a moment, Aryana still not all there enough to be certain she had heard him right. To a normal person, that sounded like an invitation but Warren Peace wasn't a normal person. He seemed to realize how it sounded too and immediately hid within his hair. Damn his hero half.

Aryana narrowed her eyes, her mouth hanging slightly slack as she stared at the man. Peace only cocked his brow to the woman, wondering if she was going to hurt herself making that face.

"Are you asking to be my brother?"

He narrowed his eyes this time.

"But you can't stand me."

"Tell me about it." he grumbled.

"See!" she snapped her fingers and pointed at him. "You don't even like me."

"Anything's better than this place."

She suddenly perked. Warren eyed her for a moment and didn't like what he saw. Her attention seemed to have sharpened and her keen eyes were trained directly on him.

"Don't you dare." she muttered in a low voice.

"What?" he asked, unsure he had heard her right.

"Don't you dare sit there and pity me."

He looked at her like she was crazy. Everything that happened just in the past hour and him pitying her was what messed with her head the most? Was she serious? He just stared at her in disbelief before shaking his head and seeing the time on her alarm clock.

"Shit. I have to go to work." he hissed, turning and making his way towards the window before looking at her.

The two made eye contact for a moment but Aryana was the first to break it. If there was one thing she hated more than anything, it was people feeling sorry for her. Because if people felt sorry for her it meant they thought she couldn't take care of herself, that she was weak. She was not weak.

"He was just being nice." Tony finally said.

She cocked her brow to the kind.

"Don't get your hopes up Tony. Even if she _was_ willing to help out it doesn't mean she'd be able to. And besides, you really think she'd take someone like me? You know what happens if I get out of control."

"That only happens when you get emotional." he sighed.

"Warren Peace and I don't get along very often." she replied. "In fact, I think that was the longest we went without fighting. Just… don't put your heart in it. Okay? Not every super kid gets their happy ending."

"Speak for yourself. I'm adorable." he scoffed.

Aryana laughed and pulled him closer, hugging him tightly. Tony's smile faded as he clung to the young woman, the closest thing to family he had since making his way into the system. She was the only one that took care of him that wasn't getting paid for it. She did it cause she actually cared, not because she had a hidden motive.

"Yeah." she finally sighed, lightly stroking his hair as he climbed in next to her. "You're adorable. Just a smart ass is all."

The two shared a smile while she continued to rub his hair before he went still. He was sleeping. Aryana wrapped her arms protectively around the little boy just in case. Tony was smart, unnaturally smart for an eight year old. Hell, he was unnaturally smart for a full grown man and even though his power let him understand everything from human behavior to the way electronics work, he was just a kid. He was just a scared, battered, bruised and ultimately abandoned eight year old little boy that needed someone to take care of him and she had been the one that took the job. She had been with the Roberts family since she was about his age and she knew how they were so there was no way she was going to let them do that to another child.

Eventually with the weight of everything that had happened, Aryana's eyes began to get heavy. Sleep was calling her and she was more than willing to oblige when the yelling downstairs began again. She sighed. They'd woken from their drunken stupor to fight some more. Typical Wednesday night in her mind. So tightening her grip around the boy, Aryana let herself fall asleep in the hell hole she called her home and her prison.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Warren was in the back, bussing the tables but his mind was dominated by the scene that was happening only a couple of miles away. It had been increasingly difficult to ignore. Even if he didn't know the people like he did now, if he knew someone was going through that kind of hell on a daily basis, he wouldn't be able to ignore it. He wasn't sure what he'd do but it's not right. Childhood isn't supposed to be riddled with that kind of shit. It's supposed to be playing and video games and friends, not having a designated hiding spot and code word when things got bad enough you had to run. It's not having an escape route planned on how to get away or being so used to something that it barely phases you anymore. It's not right no matter who it's happening to. It just made it worse that he kind of knew this chick.

True, Warren didn't know Aryana all that well and he attributed that to the fact that they are both stubborn jackasses. He felt like he understood her a little bit more now, why she always hid and tried to ignore people, both being the offspring of notorious villains but he didn't actually know her. He had actually learned more about her a couple of hours ago than he had the whole couple of days they had actually attended school. That was pretty sad considering they sat next to each other in a class and rode the same bus. But, he had to admit, if he had never met the chick before, just what he had seen her do for Tony would have been enough. Not many people willing put themselves in harm's way for another.

The thought of what was most likely happening pissed him off to the point his hands had ignited again, scorching the rag he was using to wipe down the table. He growled to himself as he tossed it into the dish tub and walked back into the kitchen for a new one. Didn't make much sense to wash a table with a half burned rag. This was already the third time he had done it.

The night went by slower than normal but the moment they were closed and he was free to go home, Warren all but sped the whole way. If he couldn't do something, maybe his mother could or knew someone who could. So, speeding down the streets, Warren made his way home, glad to see the windows in his modest house were lit up which meant she was home. He almost didn't even stop his bike completely before getting off of it. He was lucky the kickstand was second nature otherwise half of his next paycheck would be going to body work.

He threw open the door and scared the hell out of his mom whether he meant to or not. She had been in the kitchen cooking, baking really, and jumped when the door flew open. When she flew around and saw her son, the one she nearly attacked, she frowned instead of killing him like her instinct had been.

"Warren," she sighed. "Don't _do_ that."

He could see she was flustered and honestly felt a bit bad for it. It hadn't been his intention.

"Sorry mom." he muttered, moving awkwardly as he walked into the kitchen.

"Here," she suddenly beamed like she hadn't almost thrown a knife at her own son a second ago, offering him the baking sheet she had just pulled out of the oven filled with cookies. "They're fresh."

He took one, his face still relatively blank as he grabbed the cookie right off of the sheet his mother had to wear gloves to hold. Heat never bothered him, obviously. He bit into it see her eyes light up when he smiled, his cheek filled with cookie.

"Mmm." he said, pacifying his mother before he quickly swallowed the molten chocolate. "Hey mom, can I ask you something?"

"Of course sweetie." she said absently, transferring the cookies from the sheet to the wire rack to cool. When Warren hesitated, she came to her own conclusions. Suddenly she turned around with a wide smile on her face. "Is it a girl?"

Warren's face suddenly dropped and that seemed to be all the confirmation his mother needed to start giggling.

"Oh, I knew you'd find someone Warren. Awe, what's her name? What's she like? Is she a super? Is she a villain or a hero? When can I meet her…"

"Mom!"

She would have kept going if he hadn't interrupted her. He was her only child so the thought of him apparently bringing home a girl, especially as off putting as he could be, made his mother immediately start planning weddings. It didn't even matter if he mentioned a female name in passing. She'd drill him about information and he knew she was going to do that now, but once she heard the situation, romance wouldn't be her focus.

"Well what is it?" she snapped, a bit offended he had interrupted her without making his point.

"I need to ask your advice about something."

The seriousness in his face made her realize something might actually be wrong. Her brow creased worriedly as she walked towards him. She knew her son, better than anyone and despite how he was with other people, he wasn't that way with her. Mostly because she could see right through it. It's a mother thing.

"Warren, what's wrong?"

He moved uncomfortably for a moment, trying to find the words but he soon realized it would sound bad no matter how he said it.

"I know this girl," he began, pausing to see if she would fly off the marriage handle. She didn't budge. She knew better when her son acted the way he was right now. Seeing it was safe, he continued on. "She's getting smacked around."

His mother's face suddenly shifted from warm and sweet Suzie Homemaker, to cold, cruel and damn near vengeful. He saw anger flash in his little mother's eyes that honestly made him slightly uncomfortable.

"Who is it?" she asked in a low voice.

"Her foster dad I know for sure. I'm not sure her foster mom's strong enough to lift anything heavier than a glass of booze."

She only stared at him for a moment.

"Has she called the authorities?"

"I think so." he answered unsurely. "I mean, she said something like they'd keep sending her back to him because of who her dad is."

Now she was confused.

"What does her father have anything to do with it?"

"He was a super villain and I guess she got his powers so they sent her to this guy. He's given all of the hard cases I guess."

"Are you talking about Joseph Roberts?"

Warren's face suddenly darkened.

"You know him?"

"Of him." she corrected. "I remember a while back he was praised for being able to take some of the most unruly children under his wing, supers included."

"That son of a bitch has powers. He can drain people when he touches them." he yelled.

"Warren, language." his mother scolded though she heard every word. "He can _drain_ them? What do you mean?"

"I saw him do it. He sucks their energy, powers, whatever out of them. He can even put them in a coma if he wants to. That's how he can control all these kids. He's not a good foster parent, he's basically knocking them out and collecting the cash."

"And you know this? For a fact?" she asked. He nodded. "How?"

"Aryana," he sighed. "A girl in my class. She… got hurt… at school so I was picked to take her her work. I've been there twice already."

"Warren," she said in a weary tone that already told him he wasn't going to like what she was going to say. "I'm sorry to say but there has to be proof, something the police can see otherwise…"

"She has bruises on her face where he beat the shit out of her tonight!" he bellowed.

She looked horrified.

"Well how old is she? Can she leave?"

"She's my age… I think." he replied, not even remotely sure other than knowing she was fourteen. "And Tony's eight."

"Eight?" she asked shocked. "There's a little child there?"

He nodded solemnly. His mother looked outraged. Joyce Peace was many things, a hero, a mother, head of the neighborhood watch which made him laugh slightly, and extraordinarily kind to just about everyone. She gave people the benefit of the doubt and refused to go by what other people said, forming her own opinion first. That's how she ended up with someone like Warren's dad. She had made her own mind up about him. Whether or not he had become a super villain meant little to nothing though it did lead to her being kicked out of the league for obvious reasons. Her life as a super hero was over so she turned the rest of her protective instincts towards helping people as a civilian. It was just her nature so hearing that children were being mistreated by people that were supposed to be taking care of them, protecting them, nearly sent her over the edge.

"Sweetie, you know I'm out but if you want, I can call a few people and see if there's anything we can do for them. I'm still friends with some of the League."

"Like who?" he asked wearily.

"Well, the Strongholds for one. I know Steve still has a few favors with the Mayor."

He growled under his breath.

"Why do you even still talk to those people?" he asked angrily.

She sighed and shook her head.

"They were only doing their jobs Warren. It's what they do. Heroes fight Villains. That's it. Your father just happened to get caught." she said.

There was that unfathomable understanding again. He knew it hurt her, that he was gone, but part of her knew it was bound to happen when you were married to Barron Battle. He still grumbled under his breath at the thought.

"I don't think the League's going to want to help her."

"Well why not?" she asked confused. "Her and her friend are in a toxic environment. I don't think her father being a villain should have anything to…"

"She's the Red Devil's kid." he interrupted.

"Oh." understanding washed through her features. "Well that does present a problem."

Warren stood there for a moment while the small woman slipped deep into thought about what their options were. She lightly tapped her chin, a habit she had always had and the dead give away if you wanted to know what she was thinking. His mother wasn't anywhere near as good as Warren at hiding her emotions. She preferred to just wear them on their sleeves.

After a while, the timer dinged for the last batch of cookies in the oven. It seemed to bring her out of her mind and she turned to Warren, smiling sweetly. She lightly touched his arm, patting it gently.

"We'll think of something sweetheart." she told him, reassuring him as she turned to the oven and removed the last tray of cookies.

Warren growled under his breath that something wasn't being done about it right now but quickly realized it was ten thirty at night and there wasn't much they really could do. He made his way to his room and fell onto his bed, staring at the ceiling as he tried to rationalize anything he had seen happen but he couldn't. There simply was no rational reason someone would be like that.

Eventually he fell asleep and found himself internally hoping that they would be safe tonight. If anything, he prayed they would make it until morning without any further bodily injury.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Warren walked to the bus stop with his hands in his pockets, still hoping that his mother came through in the end and if anything, that son of a bitch Joseph would end up in jail. And what's better, he had powers so he'd have to go to a Super Max prison for villains. The thought made him smile. He knew that when he brought Aryana her homework tonight when he got off work, if he heard the man yelling or something else happened, he was going to light him up without even a second thought. He might even smile when he did it.

He had made his way to the bus stop but when he looked up he was surprised to find he wasn't alone. Aryana sat, or leaned mostly, against the fire hydrant with her nose in a book and her bag at her feet. He could tell she was still injured from the obvious knee brace. The thick black brace was in stark contrast to her pale skin, clearly visible given she wasn't wearing her normal jeans and instead a pair of shorts, the cane just peeking out from the other side of the hydrant. He cocked a brow to her. He knew she wasn't supposed to be there. Shaking his head, he walked forward. When he reached her side, she didn't even bother looking up at the man.

"Morning." she said simply as though nothing was out of the ordinary. Although, her saying anything to the young man would have been weird regardless.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" he asked, unable to keep the annoyance at bay.

She could hear it. Aryana slowly turned her head towards the man, not even bothering to hide behind layers of fabric like normal. He didn't have to guess if she was making faces at him, now he could see it. He kind of missed the giant hoodie when he saw the irritation in her eyes. She cocked a delicate brow.

"Maybe." she replied simply. "You telling me it's better to be there then gimping around school?"

He didn't say anything. The bus sounded in the background as it rounded the corner about three blocks away, heading towards the two that were the last to board. Aryana shut the book and put it up before reaching for a hair tie around her wrist and pulling her locks back. She wasn't about to have to struggle with that much hair too with everything else going on. Warren cocked a brow to her. It was even more obvious she had elf ears in the sunlight than it had been in her room. And so was the bruise. He growled that it looked like she'd covered most of it up with makeup and she figured since no one really looks at her, it'd be enough to work. She still said nothing as she slung her bag over her shoulder and stood. He could tell she was biting back a wince and putting on a brave face.

"Besides, I can walk better now anyway." she lied as the bus pulled up.

Warren decided to let her demonstrate and stood back. Sure enough she seemed to be doing alright but when you could barely bend your knee from a brace, how well can you walk in the first place? He sighed, rolling his eyes and followed after her, taking the seat in front of her while she took the back like he had expected. Aryana had thrown her things onto the floor in font of her, the cane resting on the seat with her and suddenly noticed people staring at her either over the top or around the corner of their seat. She cocked a brow.

"Something I can help you people with?" she asked loud enough for everyone to hear.

Almost immediately they shifted and ducked away into their seats. Warren chuckled under his breath, hiding the smile in his hair as they set off towards the school. He would glance back periodically when they'd hit a rather nasty bump and she'd hiss but she never let the hurt touch her expression. It would have been impressive if it wasn't so stupid.

When they made their way to the actual school grounds, the rest of the students had filed off relatively quickly. Apparently, there were rumors going around school about what had happened to Aryana and some of them were pretty damn funny. The most popular however seemed to be that she went insane after her second day of school and she was sent to the same Super Max prison where they housed her father and all of the worst of the worst. That being the most popular theory, the expressions on the other kids face when she arrived were priceless to say the least.

She even surprised herself with how well she was walking with the cane as she left the bus and made her way towards her classes. It wasn't like there was room in her bedroom to practice or really stand for that matter. But after a while of people watching her and staring, Aryana felt herself wishing she had her jacket back. The problem with that was, Warren had burned the only one she owned. She scowled when she thought about it. That was going to have to be their topic of discussion.

"Hey!"

The sudden and overly happy voice forced Aryana to turn around and see Layla smiling as she walked up, the others behind her, right before Aryana would have made it into the building.

"Hi." she replied with a kind smile.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, eying the knee brace.

"Fine," Aryana sighed as the others walked up giving her the same look. "Hi guys."

A couple of them, Zach and Ethan at least, waved but seemed slightly taken aback by the woman's new appearance, something that was soon commented on.

"I like this you." Layla smiled, remarking to the shorts, flip flops, and black off the shoulder shirt with a few silver bracelets and earrings.

"Uh, thanks." Aryana said with a weak smile, pink touching her cheeks.

"Dude look at your ear!" Zach, tactfully, blurted out, drawing attention from even a few passing students.

The people near her shifted to see what seemed to dominate Zach's constantly fleeting attention and were almost as surprised. They weren't as willing to yell it out though.

"That's so cool." he smiled.

Aryana couldn't help herself. She laughed and it seemed to surprise them as much as herself but she couldn't help it. This kid just seemed completely enthralled by her ears of all things. Slowly, the laughter died down though her wide toothed smile remained. Zach noticed and yet again, couldn't cover his mouth.

"Holy crap are those real?"

Magenta immediately began to slap the man's arm, trying to shut him up and quit pointing out her traits while Aryana looked confused. Layla motioned to her mouth and understanding washed over her features. Aryana took her finger and lightly tapped the fanged canines she had and shrugged indifferently.

"As long as I can remember." she replied simply.

"Wow that's kind of…" Magenta began.

"Creepy." Aryana finished. "Word you're looking for is creepy."

She nodded slowly.

"Yeah I know. I look more like dad than I'd like to admit." she sighed when the bell rang loudly. "Let's get this party started." she muttered to herself.

"I could carry you if you want." Will beamed.

Layla only shook her head with a smile while Aryana looked slightly confused.

"He's been trying to use his strength for everything now ever since he got it." she explained.

Aryana nodded her understanding.

"Uh, well, thanks Will but uh, I'm fine walking."

He shrugged as they made their way up the steps, not her most favorite thing in the world, and to their respective classes. Aryana had _Mad Science II_ first and she knew she was going to be a couple minutes late. There was no way to get around it but she wasn't about to have Stronghold walking through the halls carrying her like an invalid.

Like she had expected, she was late but surprised it was by less than five minutes. The door was open and Medulla was talking about beams and their uses versus rays. She shook her head lightly before stepping into the doorway. She hadn't even put her foot down inside the classroom before the bulbous headed man swung around pointing his finger.

"Late!" he called loudly like he had the day before when his face dropped slightly. "Miss Gehenna, I was told you'd be out of class until next week."

She shrugged, reaching into her bag and producing her homework for his class. He took it, raising a skeptical brow.

"I couldn't resist the lure of science." she replied, a sarcastic edge on her voice, the students picking up on more than the teacher.

He only smiled and nodded his approval.

"Yes well, a truer statement has yet to be uttered." he beamed before his face turned serious again. "Injury or no, tardiness isn't acceptable."

"Yes sir." she replied, her knee starting to throb as she waiting until she could sit.

"Please take your seat."

She nodded and did just that, Warren leaning onto his desk and staring at her blankly while twirling a pencil through his fingers. She rolled her eyes at the young man before taking her seat and pulling out a pad of paper and pencil for notes. A few minutes had passed and she could swear that she felt fire radiating on the side of her head.

"If you keep staring at me like that," she said under her breath. "I might think you like me."

She could tell out of the corner of her eye that she had disarmed him temporarily but he rarely let something like that show. She only really knew because the side of her face wasn't burning anymore. Warren turned back to his paper, his hair falling around his face again like he preferred.

"You shouldn't be walking around."

"Yeah well, I don't much feel like being stuck there all day long." she replied under her breath, still writing as she spoke. "It's not like either of them work."

He fought the cold feeling that swept through his back at the thought that neither of those horrible people worked and did nothing but hang around the house all day. Then again, he couldn't imagine that either of them would have held jobs for very long. It's not like they had people skills.

He didn't say anything more after that and he could tell she didn't want to talk about it either. She didn't want to be reminded of what she already had no choice but returning to.

By the time class came to an end, Aryana's knee was on fire from all of the blood pumping down to it but she wasn't going to throw the thing up onto her desk in the middle of class. She was fairly certain Medulla would have a stroke if she did. The thought though made her laugh to herself. When the bell finally rang, she said her silent goodbye to Peace and made her way down the hall towards _Advanced Team Training_. It was basically a class where you learned about the value of teamwork and hear about some of the greatest hero teams in history. It was a prerequisite, being able to work with others in the hero life whether it was you and your sidekick or working with the League, it was just something you needed to know.

Thankfully the class seemed to go by faster than she had thought and next was lunch. At least at lunch she'd be able to put her, easily, swollen knee onto a level surface. But, yet again, when she walked into the cafeteria, there were people staring at her. She only rolled her eyes and kept walking, grabbing an apple before finding a seat. She was in the middle of walking pass the 'popular' table and heard Penny, the overly chipper cheerleader with a bitchy streak a mile wide, snickering and making comments under her breath. Aryana turned to her and cocked her brow daringly.

"Can I help you with something Skipper?" she asked sarcastically.

Penny scowled lightly before a smile touched her face.

"I was just wondering if they keep a padded cell over for you at the Perdition Super Max prison like your daddy." she said with a sneering grin causing the ones sitting around her to laugh and snicker.

A smile touched Aryana's lips.

"I don't know." she replied as though unfazed despite the rage surging within. With a blink her eyes shifted black like only a few had ever seen before. Penny and the others seemed slightly taken aback. "But I know who I'd use to find out."

They didn't respond so with another blink, her eyes went back to normal and she went back on her way.

"_Freak."_ she heard Penny mutter under her breath.

Cocking her brow, Aryana turned her attention to her hand, a small orb of burning blue glowed in her palm. Without even looking back, she tossed it over her shoulder. Those that had been watching, still stared when the ball landing directly on Penny's plate and exploded sending her food flying everywhere and covering her cheerleading outfit. She screamed loudly, macaroni in her hair and her uniform stained. Aryana kept walking, a wide smile on her face as she made her way towards the double doors that led outside.

"Hey," she heard a laughing voice call. She turned to see Will and the others smiling at her. "Sit with us."

She shrugged and did as they asked, taking a seat and finally getting a look at what she had done. She smiled wide at the mayhem left in her wake.

"She deserved worse." Layla smiled.

"I think you should've burned one of her eyebrows off." Magenta chimed.

They shared a laugh and went about their lunch. Warren sat at his table in the distance, smiling at her actions before going back to his book. At least she seemed to have grown some kind of back bone now that she wasn't hiding in her hoddie.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

On her way to Gym, Aryana wasn't horribly enthusiastic about having to deal with Boomer giving her grief because she wasn't able to perform or do anything other than lay down on the bleachers. That's all she planned on doing anyway.

"Come on Gimpy," a voice said from behind. A moment later Warren walked pass her and to the doors that lead to the gym. "Don't want to be late. Again."

Her mouth hung slightly slack at his comment and the taunting smile on his face before he disappeared. She wanted nothing more than to burn the look off his face but she pushed passed it and went into the gym.

Like she had expected, Boomer was less than excited about her not participating in anything for what would likely be a while, but today didn't really matter. It was Save the Citizen day and apparently, that was a big deal. Slowly, Aryana managed to make her way up the steps and rather than sit there, she just flat out laid down. She didn't care if anyone sat next to her or even near her, she just needed to get off her knee. So, with her gym clothes under her head as a pillow and her bag under her leg, she laid on one of the upper levels of their designated section while everyone else filed in. She got a few looks but her lack of caring was evident. She was a bit surprised however when the others came to sit on the benches just below her.

"How's your knee feeling?" Layla asked with a slight wince.

"Hurts. Throbs. The usual." she replied with a smile. "I'll be fine though. Don't worry about it."

"I still feel kind of bad though."

"Why?" she asked, kind of surprised. She turned and saw where Peace was sitting. "He's the one that did it."

She was pointing blatantly at the man, not bothering to hide it. Something he noticed and turned his attention to her. He cocked a brow to her.

"You got something to say to me Gimpy?" he called down to her, separated really by only a few levels.

"You know what…" she muttered to herself, her hand mocking a gun.

She took aim and when she 'fired', a small ball of blue fire was sent flying at the man and would have hit in square in the forehead if he hadn't caught the slow moving object. His hand ignited as he caught it, squelching the fire ball easily. She didn't seem to really care and only giggled to herself before turning back to the conversation. Warren smiled inwardly and diverted his attention back to the things happening in the pit.

The first few people that had gone about attempting to beat their villains failed horribly. Aryana was fairly certain they didn't get within a few feet of the citizen let alone close enough to save them. She sighed and shook her head at the latest utter failure when Boomer called out. To her surprise, Will and Warren were chosen by the two in the pit. Aryana was thoroughly unaware the two had a rivalry, her own world a bit more pressing than schoolyard squabbles, but she was filled in quickly. It soon became apparent why neither young man had mentioned it to her or even around her. There was no way Will would have admitted to being the Commander's son when that's who killed her dad and Warren wasn't about to say he was pissy for the Commander locking his away because again, he actually killed her dad.

Aryana didn't blame Will though, for their dads fight. She had read stories about what had happened only being five when it did and her memory not the best. She remembered the first time her dad had gotten locked up shortly after she was born. She never really knew the man other than through thick plate glass while he was relatively sedated to keep his anger to a minimum. She lived with her mom, human and not even a bad person until she passed away when she was five years old. That's what sent her dad over the edge.

When they had told him about it in prison and said he wasn't allowed to go to her funeral and Aryana was going into Foster Care, he lost it. Emotion is a downfall with them. In his rage he was almost indestructible and went on a rampage trying to get to Aryana and see his wife. When the heroes had tried to calm him down, in his altered form, he easily overcame the weaker of them and nearly did another before the Commander had gotten a hold of him. They fought for almost an hour the papers said and causing millions in damages before Stronghold Senior had gotten his chance and had to take it. The Red Devil had quickly become known as the Killer of Heroes, Devil Incarnate, and a lot of other things she couldn't say without getting in trouble, but he was also the first and last person the Commander said he would ever use lethal force with.

Aryana didn't really know her dad so it was hard for her to try and defend either what he did or be angry about what had to be done to him. It was the way things went. Although just having his name and obvious traits made her life a living hell so it was easy to be angry about a few things.

When her attention finally turned back to the display below, she had just watched Will turn the wood floor of the gym into a tidal wave sending both villains into the air. It was impressive to say the least. She perked slightly, sitting up as best she could as Warren launched one fire ball after another after Speed. He was too slow. Will was in the middle of running for the citizen, the two on the brink of winning when Warren was suddenly trapped in a vortex of Speed's making. Aryana sat completely up, worry on her face. He couldn't breathe and Will couldn't decide what to do. Tension was growing thick.

"Come on, come on, come on…" Aryana was muttering to herself repeatedly, praying he would help Warren before he passed out.

Thankfully, Will chose to save his partner, moving towards the running man and snatching him out of the air. He sent him flying into Lash, the two slamming into the wall with the force. Warren had collapsed on the ground when Will grabbed his gear and launched him at the citizen when the class was counting down. He plowed into it and caught the dummy before rolling onto the ground.

Aryana sighed her relief when the class cheered and rushed the gym to congratulate the one hero that didn't care being around people. Warren stood, his head throbbing from nearly passing out and headed towards the locker room without so much as looking over his shoulder at anyone else. She silently congratulated the man in her head as Boomer dismissed them to change before the end of class.

When the bell rang and everyone began making their way into their fourth period class, Aryana realized that this was the first time she had even been to this class. She had been hurt right after lunch and since then, never made it passed into any of her other three classes. She wondered what kind of class History of Heroes was and soon got her answer.

She sat there, barely listening as the teacher all but swooned over the heroes of the past but mostly the Commander and Jetstream, the Stronghold family. She wondered if Will sat in the class answering questions all period long or if he actually got sick of hearing about his parents for more than an hour. She shook her head lightly. It had to suck. Before the end of class, she handed in the work she had been given by Warren and glanced to her schedule before feeling her heart sink.

"Great." she muttered to herself.

_Villain Logic_ looked back at her and she couldn't help but wonder if this was going to be as bad as she thought. When she walked into the classroom and saw most of the people staring at her, she realized it very well could be. There were muttered whispers and fear it sounded like, when they spoke but as she handed her work to her teacher, she caught it. There, on the wall behind the teacher's desk to the right of the chalkboard was a billboard filled with mug shots.

_America's Most Wanted Super Villains_ was in bold print above about thirteen pictures of super villains and the one, right front and center above them all with _deceased_ in bright red under his name, was her dad. She growled under her breath at the picture when she was told where to sit. Turning around, she realized that Warren was sitting in the back corner, the chair in front of him scooted up a bit more than it was supposed to be and the student in it leaning forward while the seat next to him was empty. Figures.

Without saying anything about the offending photo, she walked through the desks and took her seat, immediately hearing scooting desks before she even set her bag on the ground. She looked up and noticed the kid in front of and next to her were moving away ever so slightly, just weren't very sly about it. She sighed and shook her head. Of course they wouldn't want to sit near someone like her or Warren, though he prided himself on being scary and intimidating anyway.

The woman at the head of the class, the teacher, went about speaking. The subject today tended to be more about the most classic villain's technique and how to spot which version of the plan with what clues. It was slightly tedious and Aryana found it a little more difficult than she thought to concentrate when her father's mug shots were staring at her. He wasn't even normal enough to have one. There were two. Her eyes narrowed on them as she contemplated burning them from the frame.

The pictures had always bothered Warren too, his dad on the second row, furthest over, but he kind of liked it too. It reminded people who he was and where he came from, instilling that fear they had that he would be just like him. But he had noticed Aryana's reaction to them and it made him slightly curious. She had sat next to him and he was fairly certain her eyes hadn't left her dad's picture since class started.

Her entire body had gone rigid, her fingers constantly tapping the top of her class book lightly while she stared down the picture on the wall. He had to admit though, to himself not other people, that the one of the Red Devil did kind of creep him out. It did everyone. They had a picture of the man when he was arrested, the standard mug shot, and then the one next to it was him when he had transformed so people knew what to look for. Though honestly, a giant red demon was pretty obvious.

Aryana sat there, still staring at the picture that seemed to be looking at her. This was the first time she had seen a picture of the man since she had hit double digit age. When she was about nine or ten, she had read the articles and seen the documents about what he had done his entire criminal career but she had never been able to take a copy home, for obvious reasons. So she sat there, staring at her fabled father.

He had a narrow face, long almost and slightly sunken in which she was sure had to do with all of his years on the run or in jail. He was a relatively good looking man, something that was more deceptive than anything, with jet black hair like hers and deep brown eyes. She had his ears, something she could see in the picture, his cheek bones, his chin and his hair color. He had thin lips and a stern mouth, something she was so glad she hadn't gotten from him, instead inheriting her mother's full lips and rounded features. Then there was the one next to it.

It was a photo of the man from his hips up instead of just his shoulders up like the other so more of his features would have been visible. It was color too. His skin was a deep burgundy red like a blood shade more than anything. His face had shifted to a more demonic form, despite the skin color, his cheeks more sunken in, bags under his eyes and jet black eyes. He was holding up a sign with his abilities, height and prisoner number on it but it was the talon like claws that were more prominent. And then, as though his name hadn't already been completely self explanatory, there was the edges of wings behind him that didn't fit in the picture. There was a reason they called him Red Devil. He looked like every biblical portrait of the Devil in Hell when he let rage take over and transform him.

Aryana shuddered slightly, fearing how much she might have inherited from the man and turned back to her paper, her hand on her forehead to shield her eyes from the people that were still looking over their shoulders at her. She did her best to try and forget that her father was sitting there at the head of the class staring blankly at her and would be for the next few months until the semester was over. The thought made her feel worse but she did her best to push passed it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Aryana was making her way towards the bus a few minutes early with thanks to her teacher but she was a bit annoyed that the woman had kept staring at her throughout the class. Yet another person that assumed she'd kill everyone, she figured, as she walked through the hall towards the buses. She didn't care. In fact, if anything she might have been impressed if she actually knew the man but her father was nothing more than the biological reason she was living. She had no memories of him, out of prison at least, and hadn't gotten anything from him. Hell, the man never even wrote her letters. All he wanted was to make people fear him which apparently worked and seemed would continue even after his death.

As she walked, she heard footsteps behind her that caused her to turn. Warren, of all people, was walking up behind her looking as though this was where he belonged instead of sitting back in the classroom. She looked at him confused, something he noticed but didn't much seem to care about. He just stared at her, the two of them the only ones in the halls so it was hard to ignore the other.

"What are you doing?" she finally asked.

"Holding your books so you can walk to the bus." he replied simply but as he met her side, he kept walking giving her nothing more than a slick smirk before heading off.

She looked surprised at the man, her brows raised at his arrogance as he sauntered away without even a break in his step. Soon surprise turned to anger that he just kept going.

"Ey!" she snapped after him. "Then do it!"

"You're doing fine." he called back without even having the decency to turn around and say it.

She growled under her breath and dropped her bag before reaching back and launching a fireball at the man. It sailed through the air before landing, hard, in the center of his back, wrapping around his frame before dissipating. Warren had stumbled forward before adjusting himself upright. Slowly, he turned around and glared angrily at the woman that simply stood there staring at him.

"Give me your best shot Sparky." she dared.

"Sparky?" he repeated, slightly insulted before igniting his right arm. "Don't call me Sparky."

When the smile touched her face, he threw his own fire at her. Aryana only smiled and batted it away like a fly, the fire bursting against a locker. Warren couldn't decide if he was more insulted that she had batted the fire away like nothing or that she was taunting him willingly. Growling openly, Warren lit his arms, instigating the fight. Aryana laughed, almost happily as she grabbed her bag again and started walking towards the man. Warren stared at her curiously for a moment until she was just next to him.

"Don't take everything so personally." she smiled, continuing on towards the doors. He stood there, slightly confused as she opened them. "Sparky!" she called back.

He snapped his head behind him to see the door closing and Aryana walking down the steps to the buses. He was a bit surprised by her reaction to his actions and found himself still standing there, trying to figure out exactly what had happened when the final bell of the day had rung.

Coming too, he made his way out to the buses with the sea of students that couldn't fly or teleport home. When he boarded, he saw her sitting in the back seat like she had last time but was smiling knowingly at the man as she put ear buds in her ears. She was screwing with him and he knew it he just wasn't sure how to get her back for it. So, staying quiet for now, Warren swung himself into the second to last seat and waited for them to take off.

When the bus launched itself off the school platform and they sped towards the ground, Aryana waited until they were stable before grabbing her cane. With a smile on her face, she poked Warren in the shoulder. He barely moved his head to the side acknowledging her. She smiled a little wider.

"Hey." she said, repeating the action. He ignored her. "Hey." she poked again.

"Stop." he said sternly.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey…" she continued, poking him with each word.

"What?" he roared, turning abruptly in his seat and causing most everyone to turn around and eye the two.

"God, what's your problem?" she asked with a slight smile.

"Right now I've got a gimp poking me with a cane." he growled.

"Stop calling me gimp." she snapped, poking him a few more times with the cane to illustrate her aggravation with the nickname.

Warren lost his patience with the offending instrument and snatched it from her, spinning back around in his seat with the cane beside him.

"Hey!" she whined. "Give that back you bully!"

"No."

"I can't believe you're picking on me. I'm injured." she complained.

"And some how, a bigger pain in the ass."

"Give me back my cane."

"No."

"I'll show you annoying if you don't."

"You mean you get worse?" he asked over his shoulder, slightly concerned.

"Much."

He paused as though thinking about it for a moment.

"No." he finally answered, agreeing internally to take his chances.

She growled to herself.

"Give it to me."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"I said no."

"Then tell me what you're buying me."

"N… what?"

Warren had been so taken aback by her sudden change in topic that he had to turn around to look at her this time. Confusion was written across his face as he stared at the woman behind him with her arms crossed over her chest.

"What are you buying me?"

"Who said I'd buy you anything? Ever?"

"Well, usually someone gets the person they injured a gift. You know, to say sorry." she said simply, her brow raised as she spoke. "And depending on the recoup time, it better be shiny. Like jewelry."

"You're making this shit up aren't you?" he asked slightly annoyed.

"Almost. But you still owe me something for pain and suffering."

"I'm pretty sure I'm the one suffering." he grumbled, turning forward again.

"I personally like silver. Maybe a bracelet."

"I'll give you a ball of aluminum foil. It's silver and shiny. You can roll it into a bracelet." he replied with a smirk.

Aryana laughed under her breath. She hadn't expected that good of a come back before she removed the chuckle from her voice.

"I'll settle for my cane."

"You'll get it when we get off the bus."

She sighed heavily.

"Alright. You asked for it."

Warren glanced over his shoulder, moving enough so she could see his eyes. He glared at her.

"You wouldn't dare." he growled in a low voice.

"I warned you I'd get worse if you don't give me back my cane." she said simply.

His glare intensified and she couldn't help but smile ear to ear. A laugh escaped her lips as she just shook her head.

"I'm only messing with you." she finally said as they landed on Earth. "That's the most fun I've had in days."

His eyes widened slightly at her declaration. She was only trying to piss him off. She didn't need anything or want anything, she just wanted to annoy the every living hell out of the man and she had succeeded. Greatly. Cursing and growling under his breath, Warren turned back around and faced the seats in front of him.

"I'm keeping the cane now." he finally said.

"What?" she snapped. "I was only kidding. Don't be such a baby."

A smile of victory tugged briefly at the man's lips as the bus went on it's appointed route.

"Give it back to me or I'll burn all of that pretty, pretty hair off your head Peace." she finally warned.

"I can say the same to you."

"Awe! You think my hair's pretty?" she swooned in one of the most unnervingly sweet voices he had ever heard.

It actually made the man shudder slightly before the bus rounded the corner to their stop. He fought the urge to throw the cane out of the moving bus's window when he slung his bag over his shoulder and stood just before the bus stopped. Without even looking back, he got off, Aryana not far behind him. She limped to the curb, letting the bus drive off before turning her attention to Warren. He only eyed her up and down, wondering if he should really give the thing back but she still kind of needed it. Reluctantly, he stepped forward and offered her the piece of wood like he said he would on the bus. She smiled kindly.

"Thanks. And don't worry," she replied with a light smile. "Casual taunting, teasing and annoying pokes until this brace comes off will just about make us square."

"Are you serious? You're going to do that shit everyday?" he asked, internally horrified.

She shrugged.

"I haven't decided. I could just start calling you some of those ungodly cute nicknames I hear girls calling their boyfriends or whatever at the top of my lungs in the cafeteria at lunch."

He growled at her.

"You wouldn't dare." he warned.

"Oh this is going to be fun." she laughed when a loud noise drew their attention.

Aryana's face went white as she turned around. Warren noticed the look as a beat up, piece of shit truck came rolling down the street to their left, swerving and nearly taking out a tree as it made its way in the direction of Aryana's house. The car had sped passed them as it went on it's way, a belt in the engine shrieking at the top of it's lungs that it needed to be replaced and a second later so would the passenger side rearview mirror. The truck sideswiped a relatively new car and didn't even stop. The sound of crunching metal made them cringe.

"Awesome." she grumbled under her breath, reaching into her pocket and grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. "Can I use your back for a sec?"

"What?"

"Oh, I'm leaving a note saying Joseph hit their car and that they should call the cops if he doesn't pay. I just need a surface to write it." she said so matter-of-factly it surprised him. He didn't answer for a moment so she just shrugged. "Don't worry about it, I'll use their windshield." she said as she turned and began walking off, waving the 'peace' symbol over the back of her head. Her signaled goodbye to the man.

He just stood there, not completely sure what the hell was wrong with the girl that made her move from one thing to another like she did. Then again, maybe he did. He felt himself chuckle when he watched her write on the car's windshield before shoving the piece of paper underneath the windshield wipers before moving on as though nothing had happened. Shaking his head, Warren went home to change before heading to work.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

Warren had gone through and refilled most of the drinks in the Lantern before making his way back to the kitchen when someone yelled out for him.

"Yeah?" he called back to Andy, the only other guy working at the Paper Lantern that wasn't related to the owners.

"Dude, phone." he said simply.

Warren sighed, knowing there would be hell to pay later on but he had to at least see who'd be calling him. Its not like he had friends. Moving to the back, he grabbed the phone receiver from the wall and put it to his ear.

"Yeah?"

"_Warren sweetie, that you?"_

"Yeah mom. Something wrong?"

"_I can barely hear you over those noises. What is that?"_

"Dishwasher." he answered simply. They had put the phone there for a reason. To help discourage personal calls. It was hard to do when you had to scream at the top of your lungs so the other person on the line could hear you. "Look, I can't really talk right now…"

"_Oh I know honey. I just wanted to tell you I got in touch with my old friend Julie. You remember her right?"_

"No." he answered indifferently. He didn't remember any of his mom's friends because he could never stay around long enough to learn them.

"_Veritas."_ she sighed.

"Okay. What about her?"

"_Well she's a judge now. She might be able to help with your friend."_

"Oh. Okay. Well can we talk about this later? I'm working." he said, feeling Mrs. Yin's eyes on him from the other side of the bar. Glancing, he confirmed his sensation and did his best to mime that he was hurrying.

"_She's on her way to talk to you."_

Warren groaned. That was all he needed. A phone call and a guest all in the same night? Yeah, he wouldn't have a job when he went home.

"Okay. Well I got to go. I'll talk to you later mom."

"_Okay. I love you!"_ she chimed in that motherly voice.

"Yeah. Love ya too." he said quickly before slamming the phone down.

She did that on purpose. She loves forcing him to say he loved her in public, knowing if she said it first, he was expected to return it. At home, he had no problem with it but that was at home. Growling to himself, he said his apologies to his boss and tried to go back to work before his inevitable firing when his mom's friend stopped by.

Veritas he knew. That was her hero name, kind of literal but straight forward. She could tell when people were lying so she put her talent to good use. She was more of a secret hero working behind the scenes of the justice system instead of through the same League connection. She definitely cut down on the tax payer's cash going towards trials and stuff too. There was no two week or two month trials. They would cart the suspect into the courthouse and she would ask one simple question. Did you do it. And if they passed her test, free to go. If they didn't, jail. It was so easy. But, part of him wondered why the hell his mom would call her.

He went about his work and nearly an hour later someone that may have been this random hero came walking through the door. She looked like a judge, really. She wore a suit and even though it was well tailored to her, it was still a little over the top. Her graying brown hair was tied back in a bun and a pair of glasses hung on the tip of her nose. Yup, judge. Warren did his best to ignore her for now before she took a seat and seemed to wait patiently.

He wasn't a waiter, at all. He worked in the kitchen doing dishes and bussing tables. The closest he ever got to even speaking with customers was when he refilled their drinks because their own waiter couldn't for some reason. He didn't have the warmest personality so in the back was better. He shook his head and did the job he had to do at least until he had a break. It wasn't all that far off so he could deal with her later.

She sat at the table, waiting for her food and reading a file while she sipped on some tea when Warren had finally gotten his break. Hesitantly, he walked over to her and wondered if he should say anything at all when he was spotted. She smiled kindly and he had to admit it put him a little more at ease but he still didn't like the situation.

"You must be Joyce's boy. Goodness you've gotten big." she smiled. She reminded him of someone's sweet grandma but wasn't quite that age yet.

"Yeah…" he replied wearily.

"Well are you going to have a seat so we can talk or just stand there staring?"

He slid into the booth, glancing to his boss again to see her eying him and the clock before going back to the register.

"Your mother tells me you have a friend who's being mistreated by her foster parents."

"Yeah… yes." he corrected before seeing her eye him slightly. "Ma'am."

She only smiled at his awkwardness but given his family's history with the legal system, it was understandable.

"Tell me what's happening." she said simply, resting her arms on the table and waiting for him to explain.

And he did, going through what he had seen and the little bit the two had actually told him. She looked horrified. What was worse, she knew he was telling the truth. Every word. She was a hero, it was her power and sometimes she truly hated it. People always think it'd be cool to know when someone's lying, to know when they're giving you the run around but there are so many other things in life that you'd rather not know the truth about.

"Uh, I've got to get back to work." he finally said when his ten minute break was up. Standing, he glanced back down to the woman that seemed to be mulling things over. "You think you can do something about it?"

Her eyes moved back to the young man as she forced a smile.

"I will certainly try." she told him.

Warren nodded as best he could before making his way back to work. He knew that she believed him, which was comforting in some ways but, the main problem was whether not they could actually do something about it. He wasn't sure why he was as determined as he was that they get taken out of the house. He just was. If people were scared she'd end up like her dad, the Roberts were the quickest way for it to happen. They were horrible people and he wanted nothing more than to take a shot at Joseph, or two. As big of an ass as he could be, Warren never went around smacking people weaker than him. For one, he'd be at it all day, and two, only cowards hit women and kids.

He shook his head to himself as he thought about whether or not she'd actually get to stay with Tony. It was obvious she cared about the kid a lot and was protective of him, for obvious reasons, but the likelihood of them being put somewhere together that wasn't in the system was rare. Especially for Aryana. Tony was young and smart, a good kid it seemed and would probably find a family easy enough, at least by the time he hit ten, but Aryana wouldn't. She was almost sixteen, a teenager and a lot older than most people wanted and as soon as one person took a look at her family history, they'd not only back away but run screaming. There was no way someone in the city would take her and she's most likely turn eighteen in the system.

Not making himself feel any better about getting involved, Warren did his best to get back to work and forget everything about what had just happened. That task was harder than he thought when Veritas left, smiling kindly and waving to the young man before walking out the door.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

The next day at school, Warren was getting a book out of his locker, still randomly thinking about his conversation with the judge when something hit his arm. He turned, about to scowl and frighten the kid that ran into him only to see it was Aryana and she seemed to have known exactly what she'd done. Rearing back she began to punch the man's arm repeatedly though he found himself wondering if this was the best she had. If so, she wouldn't be kicking much ass as a hero.

"The hell's wrong with you?" he asked, shutting his locker and eying her like she'd gone insane.

"What the hell did you do?" she hissed, stopping her tirade for a moment.

His brow creased. He still wasn't following her.

"What are you…"

"Cops showed up last night."

His face went blank. The young man was determined not to show anything that might let her know what he had done. Even if, in the end, it helped, he knew he wouldn't want someone budding into his business and she already snapped at him when she thought he was pitying her.

"Sounds like a good thing." he replied, trying to look indifferent.

"If it was as easy as me calling the cops, I would've been gone years ago and they never would've got Tony." she hissed, thoroughly pissed off.

"Look, I don't…"

Her eyes suddenly shifted black as she reached forward and grabbed his shirt collar tightly in her hand. He barely registered hearing fabric tearing.

"Just leave me alone." she growled before shoving him away from her and storming off, as best she could.

The young man stood there for a moment, staring at the area she had previously occupied, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. One, she had walked up to him, beating him weakly. Two, she was pissed off about cops showing up. Yeah, that was a little confusing. Three, she said if it was that easy, she would have already been gone. Why wouldn't it be? And four, she was angry enough to physically assault him. _Him_ of all people, and then walk away like it was nothing. Yeah, definitely made no sense. One conclusion, she was nuts. Being around a sea of crazy had soaked into her and she was now certifiable.

Shaking it from his head, Warren glanced down and realized she had torn five holes in his shirt, most likely from her talons. He groaned, grumbling curses under his breath before going to class. He was annoyed the rest of the day but it was nothing compared to how angry Aryana seemed. She wouldn't even look at the man, electing instead to hang out with the Stronghold five during lunch and just flat out ignoring him in class. As much as he preferred being ignored, this aggravated the hell out of him. He had tried to do the right thing and it blew up in his face. Never again.

He was off from the Lantern and slightly grateful. There had been so much on his plate lately, sitting at home and working on his motorcycle seemed like the best thing. He was tuning his bike when his mom came out of the house. He glanced over the machine at her but went back to what he was doing.

"You want something to eat?"

"No." he replied, trying to keep the edge from his voice but it was difficult. He was still pissed.

"Something happen at school today?"

"I was assaulted by a five foot seven demon but, other than that no."

She looked slightly surprised.

"I take it your friend wasn't very happy."

He didn't answer as he tightened his new brake line.

"What happened?"

He shrugged. He had been pretty clear about what she'd done and anything more than that he didn't know. Aryana wasn't exactly in a giving mood when she was slapping the hell out of his arm and threatening him. His mother sighed. Warren glanced up to see her giving that 'mom' look with her hands on her hips.

"What?" he asked, slightly irritated. "I don't know. She just hit me a couple times, told me to leave her alone and walked off. That's it."

"She was upset?"

"Mom," he sighed, leaning back onto his foot as he rested his arm on his knee, tool in hand. His eyes shifted to her. "I don't know what to tell you. She hit me, said if it was as easy as calling the cops, she would've done it years ago, then just walked off. I wasn't really in the mood to ask her anything else."

She just stood there, watching as her son went back to work on his bike and fought the urge to smack him in the head for his attitude.

"Well fine. Julie's coming over for dinner. You can explain that to her when she gets here." she said before turning and walking back into the house.

Warren shook his head. This just wasn't going to go away. He grumbled his frustrations and went back to work. At least this was easy. It was too straight forward not to be.

Some time later, he wasn't sure when, his mom's friend drove up into the driveway as he exited the garage, wiping the grease from his hands. He just stared at the car as she exited. Julie smiled kindly to him and the best he could manage was a nod before turning back into the garage. About ten minutes later, his mom called him into the house. He sighed and entered, knowing she'd come after him if he didn't. She's done it before.

He went to the sink to wash his hands, hearing the two women talking behind him at the table with their food and glass of wine. He really didn't want to sit there while they talked about god knows what or, even worse, Aryana. He really wasn't in the mood to talk about her. When he dried his hands, he noticed his plate already fixed and decided to seize his chance.

"I'm eating in my room." he said, taking the plate and trying to get away before…

"I don't think so."

That…

Warren sighed and turned on his heel. His mom stared at him sternly.

"Sit." she commanded simply.

He did as he was told and took his seat at the table. He went about eating without speaking to either woman staring at him.

"Julie was just telling me something interesting while you were outside avoiding everybody." his mom said. Warren still didn't look up from his chicken. "Apparently, the officers that visited the Roberts place had nothing but good things to say about the family."

Warren suddenly choked on the rice he had shoved into his mouth. His eyes shot to Julie, face contorted in confusion and slight anger.

"What?" he choked, surprisingly able to swallow all of the food in his mouth. "That's bullshit."

"Warren," his mom hissed. "Language."

He rolled his eyes.

"They're lying."

"Actually no, they're not." Julie said simply.

His expression turned dark.

"We can't both be telling the truth."

"Yes, you can." she said with a slight smile. His confusion deepened. "Whatever it is they saw, they believe was real. If they believe it's real, then as far as they know, it's the truth."

"That helps none." he stated bluntly.

"Warren, I'm on your side. Try to remember that." she told him sternly. "Joseph Roberts is an ass, we all know it, and the 'glowing' reviews from the police officers that paid him a visit seem a little too convenient to me."

"Then what are you going to do about it?"

A smile touched her face that made him slightly uncomfortable.

"You're going to take me over there so we can say hello."

Warren's head fell slightly. This was going to be bad and he knew she would be beyond angry with him now. She was going to explode, probably literally.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

The two walked up the driveway to the house. Warren had told the Judge how closely Aryana lived and since it was a nice night, they had decided to walk. Really, she had and he didn't really have much of a choice. The house looked even worse at night with its dark windows, creepy tarp that was moving with the wind and the ever present screaming within the dwelling. Julie seemed a bit surprised as they walked onto the porch and knocked on the door. The fighting immediately ceased and like it had with Warren the first time he had come, Martha scuttled to the front door and peered through the dingy curtain on the door. She slightly glared at Warren but the glare was worse when it moved to Julie.

"What do you want?"

"Hi," Julie chimed in a unnaturally sweet voice. "I'm Judge Maher and I wanted to come discuss that little misunderstanding yesterday. Would you mind if we talked inside?"

"No," Martha lied, Julie feeling that familiar twinge when she spoke, when the door suddenly swung open. "Please, come in."

Warren's eyes went wide. Martha looked completely different. She was smiling for one, standing upright instead of hunched over and looked years younger than he remembered. Her skin looked healthy, hair brushed, and clothes clean. It made his head spin slightly.

"Thank you." she smiled politely, stepping in with Warren barely able to do the same. "May we sit in the living room?"

"Of course." Martha replied, eying the young man for a moment before offering them a seat.

Something wasn't right. Something definitely, definitely wasn't right. The house looked clean, modern, freshly painted and nothing about it made sense. This wasn't the house he had walked through only a few days ago and if that wasn't bad enough, he nearly had a stroke when Joseph walked through the doorway from the kitchen. He knew his face was betraying his emotions but this was so, utterly, completely and undisputedly wrong. Instead of the fat, bulbous, balding, angry, sweating and disgusting man he had seen before there was a tall, lean, smiling, healthy looking man with a full head of hair. Warren had just stepped through the looking glass and felt like his head was going to explode.

"Well hello." Joseph chimed with a kind voice as he took a seat in his recliner, Martha sitting on the arm as he held her hand. "What can we do for you?"

"Hello Mr. Roberts, I'm Judge Maher and I wanted to talk to you both about that unfortunate business with the police yesterday. It was a mistake to have them come here." Julie said in a kind voice, the smile seeming genuine.

"Oh yeah," Joseph said with a slight laugh. "That was a bit surprising. I got home from work to find two police men standing on my front porch speaking with my wife."

"Yes well, there had been a third party that had said a few things that I would rather not get into." she replied. Warren felt their eyes shift to him. "A few to be exact, but their claims were completely unfounded."

Warren's head snapped to the Judge, silently horrified. This wasn't happening. None of this was real. This was… wrong.

"Would you mind terribly if I spoke with both of the children?"

The two shared apprehensive looks before returning their gaze to the woman and forcing those horrible smiles.

"Well Tony's out playing with friends and I'm afraid Aryana's sleeping. She's been tired since her little injury." Joseph said.

"Injury?"

"Apparently she got hurt in a fight at school." Martha finished.

"Oh, well give them both my apologies." she smiled as she stood. "I know how frightening it can be if authorities threaten to take you away from such a wonderful home. It truly is lovely."

"Well thank you." Martha smiled as the two stood and walked a reluctant Warren and Julie to the door. "I work hard at it."

"It shows." she smiled with a light laugh before offering them her hand to shake. They did. "I just wanted to apologize again and assure you that no one else is going to be bothering you. There is obviously something that was missed in the reports."

"Well, these things happen." Joseph smiled. "Thank you for coming personally. You didn't have to."

"Oh not at all. I wanted to come and see for myself and I have to say, I'm impressed."

The two beamed happily again at her comment, playing the Beaver Clever household thing so hard it was making Warren physically ill. He wanted to throw up right on their seemingly perfect outfits just to prove he could when they waved one final time and he and Julie left, walking down the steps and towards the rest of the normal world.

"What the hell was that?" he growled, finding his voice.

"Disgusting for one." she replied, shaking slightly before reaching into her pocket for her phone. She pulled it out, dialed and waited for someone to answer. "Yeah Adam? Do me a favor and get me all of the paperwork I need to take two children away from a foster family… Improper care… eight and fifteen… boy and a girl… No the boy's eight, the girl is fifteen… Joseph and Martha Roberts… okay. Thank you." and she hung up the phone. "Horrible people."

"How did you know that?"

"Are you kidding me? They were lying through their teeth." she smiled. "They only told the truth twice. What did you see if I might ask?"

"Huh?"

"What you saw? I'm curious."

"You were there."

She smiled again, a laugh leaving her lips.

"Yes but I can see the truth and that was nothing like the police told me so, the only logical conclusion, Mrs. Roberts creates illusions. Illusions are nothing more than lies for your eyes. So, what'd you see?"

"The Brady Bunch." he grumbled, still feeling dirty for having to sit through it.

She laughed.

"That would make sense. He controls the children while she makes everyone else think everything is fine. Unfortunately, it would be full proof if I hadn't come myself." she sighed before they stopped in their stride. She turned to Warren with a serious expression. "Where was it you said little Tony went when they would fight?"

"The park. Why?"

"Because she was lying about that too. Show me."

Still having trouble with everything that had happened, Warren led the woman to the park and the tires he told her about. She walked to the far end and leaned down to find a young boy sitting in the inner curve of the tire, encompassed almost completely and invisible if anyone had glanced it. He turned slowly, noticing the older woman smiling sweetly to him. His eyes were red and his cheeks were wet with spilled tears. He was scared, shaking as he hugged his arms to his body.

"You must be Tony." she smiled sweetly. "My name is Julie. I'm a friend. Would you like to come out?"

He just stared at her, still horrified and frightened. Warren knew he wasn't going to come out and moved behind Julie and knelt down. He smiled as kindly as he could at the kid.

"Hey man. Come on."

Tony stood and made his way out of the tire, grabbing Warren's jacket sleeve as he stared apprehensively at the newcomer. She did nothing but smile kindly to the little boy who looked like he had gone through hell only moments before they arrived. He seemed to be assessing whether or not she was an illusion before turning the Warren.

"Did you find Aryana?" he asked the man.

Warren's eyes narrowed curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't see her?"

Warren shook his head before turning to Julie. She seemed concerned too.

"He lied when he said she was sleeping because she was tired from school. That's all."

Tony seemed to understand and looked more frightened than before. He began shaking Warren's arm to the point he kind of felt like his shoulder would pop out.

"He did it to her again."

"Did what Tony?" Julie asked, kneeling to look him in the eyes.

"He drained her again. He had to. They were fighting cause he knew she told on him. She told me to hide before he got too mad. He drained her." he said frantically.

Warren didn't stop as he ran towards the house. He kept repeating what he had heard Joseph say before, that he would put her in a coma and something told him he already had. So he sprinted towards the house, not even bothering to pause as he ran up the steps and onto the roof with a thud. He moved towards the window and saw her arm hanging off the bed inside. He tried to open it only to realize it was locked. That wasn't about to stop him.

Warren's arms lit up with an angry yell before he pressed his burning palms to the glass, melting it in seconds. With enough room to slip his hand through, he unlocked it and slammed it up, not about to wait for the glass to cool so he could slip through.

Aryana was laying on the bed, sleeping to anyone else that cared to look, but she looked like hell. It looked like she had gotten into another fight before falling asleep and not waking up. She was breathing slowly, shallow, and it had taken him longer than he would have liked to find a pulse on her neck. Anger lapped within him as he moved to the window again. Tony was right behind him, running up the steps and to the roof while Julie made her way there a bit slower.

"Call an ambulance!" he called to her before ducking inside again, Tony following him in.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

Julie was on the phone with the police, explaining to them the situation and that the suspects were supers. She told them not to trust their own eyes when they got here and instead to do as she was instructed. They were confused until she explained who she was. With their understanding that they would be seeing illusions in regards to the adults and the home, the girl inside was in need of assistance.

Sirens blared down the streets as a few cop cars and an ambulance came screaming closer to the home. Julie remained downstairs in the driveway, showing them the home and making sure they knew exactly where to go while Warren and Tony remained upstairs. The two were trying to rouse the young woman, Tony almost making her ear bleed with how many times he had pinched it, but she never moved. Tony had begun shaking her violently but still there was nothing.

The paramedics burst through her bedroom door and shoved the two kids aside to get a better assessment of what was happening. With a stretcher brought in, it took no time before she was taken out and led to the ambulance waiting downstairs. Warren walked after them, Tony too, ignoring the people that had caused it completely.

The rest was a blur. Somehow he had made it to the hospital and was currently sitting in the waiting room with his mother, Julie and Tony. He hadn't even seen them until they would speak or move. He definitely didn't know how they had gotten there. Tony was sitting on the chair close to Julie and his mother, trying to be brave but he was only a kid so it wasn't as easy as it was for an adult. Or really even possible it seemed. The two older women sat in the corner, talking amongst themselves while Warren sat in a chair on his own, staring at the ugly tiled floor.

He kept snapping his fingers and causing a small flame before waving it away and repeating the motion. It helped him think. At one point, he had accidentally caused the flame to go a little high when the thought of what Joseph had done and singed the chair he was sitting in. He hadn't realized he had done it either until his mother lightly smacked his arm. His eyes moved to hers before back to the ground. He knew his face was blank but what was he supposed to do? Smile? Lighting the hospital on fire was a more likely option at this point.

When the doctor had emerged, Julie was the one who spoke to him primarily, his mother sitting at his side instead. The two talked amongst themselves, their voices sounded like nothing more than a buzz in the back of his head until someone said his name. His eyes moved up to see Julie standing over him, her face as blank as his. She didn't seem enthusiastic.

"Warren will you come with me please?" she asked simply.

He didn't say anything only stood. She nodded to his mother before turning and waking out of the room, Warren stalking behind her. His mind was anywhere but what was happening right now. He couldn't even have assumed how long they had been walking only realized they were suddenly in the gardens that had been built in the center of the hospital, a large green house type place that was supposed to add beauty to a dreary place.

"Warren, I would like to ask you a favor."

He only met her gaze and remained silent.

"Being Friday and you have no school in the morning, would you mind staying here for the time being?"

He cocked a brow to her.

"Your mother's going to help me do something with Tony and I'd like to leave someone here incase something changes. It's not that I don't trust the doctors to call if something changes it's just… well no, I don't trust them. Is that alright with you?"

"Fine." he answered in a thick voice.

She nodded and with a brief smile, the two moved back into the waiting room. A few minutes later, the other three left leaving Warren to sit and brew on his own. His mind swam with all manner of things he would do to either of those people if given the chance and each worse than the last. He thought about it, fantasized really, about it for the better part of an hour when another doctor emerged.

"Gehenna?"

Warren glanced up through his hair. The doctor looked at the young man with the leather jacket, grease still on his cheek from his bike, dirty jeans, biker boots, hair slicked back though some of it had escaped, and fury glaring back at him through nearly black eyes. The man hesitated for a moment as he tightened his grip on the clipboard in his hand. Warren only clenched his own fists, his knuckles popping as he waited impatiently for a response.

"Well?" he growled.

"She's stable." he said, blurting it as though to appease the angry young man. "She's still asleep but she's stable and recovering. She just needs to rest until her body's recovered. She'll be fine."

Warren sat there, breathing a bit easier. The doctor noticed the black in his eyes had shifted to a brown now, his entire body seeming to relax which helped put him at ease too.

"She's in room 304 if you want to see her." was the last thing he said before disappearing through the doors again and going about his business.

Warren sat there for a moment, feeling better that she was at least going to recover but not sure he wanted to get up to go and see her. What was he doing? Honestly? He met this chick on Monday. _Monday_ and it was only Friday now. Five days. He had known Aryana for five days and that was it. There were people he knew for years that he wouldn't do half of this for. Then again, he kind of didn't. He didn't know a single person that wouldn't look at him sideways because of his dad or didn't just piss him off. Then again, everyone pissed him off, Aryana included though he was sure that was more intentional. He began to run through the week in his mind, trying to figure out how he had gotten to this situation.

Monday, she was sitting in his seat in the cafeteria. They snapped back and forth and she left. That was all.

Tuesday, she was in his Mad Science class where he found out she was another villain's kid. At lunch he threw her into a wall and busted her knee making her have to skip the rest of her classes.

Wednesday, he had been volunteered to take her the schoolwork she'd miss and he did it, finding out more about her in thirty minutes than he knew about people he'd gone to school with since kindergarten.

Thursday, he did it again and saw how bad everything really was and despite her trying to get him out, he had been pulled into it enough make him want to help her out. That night he told on her like a five year old.

Friday, she got in his face, telling him to back off. He didn't and now he was sitting in a hospital being told she was stable.

Was there anyway he could have avoided this? Any of it? Well, if he hadn't thrown her into the pillar, she wouldn't have hurt her knee, he wouldn't have to take her her homework and he wouldn't have found out what her home life was like which in turn would mean he never told on her so she wouldn't end up in the hospital. Yup, totally avoidable. If he hadn't done any of that, he would have stayed ignorant to everything that was going on and she wouldn't be in the hospital… this time. There was no guarantee she wouldn't have ended up here at some point anyway, or Tony for that matter.

He sighed heavily and shook his head. Who was he kidding? This shit almost made him glad he hurt her knee. Otherwise, no one ever would have known and the Roberts would have kept doing this shit to new kids put under their care.

With a heave, Warren stood up from the chair and made his way into the halls to find the room where she was being kept. He went down one identical hallway after another, the only thing giving him even the slightest clue where he was going were the signs hanging on the walls. Though, the arrows were a bit annoying. After a while, he found the right hallway and looked for the room. He almost missed it, her door open and the number not very large next to it. Back stepping, he stood in the doorway for a moment, seeing her feet behind a curtain and hearing the creepily steady beat of the heart monitor. Eventually, he realized he was being ridiculous and walked in to see her laying there, connected to an IV and the heart monitor beside the bed.

She looked dead.

Aryana already had pale skin with more of a gray undertone than anything without it looking off, and now with her being in the hospital, the only thing that let him know she was actually alive was the monitor that kept a frighteningly calm tone. She looked like she had been through hell, awake for weeks before getting some sleep. There were no visible injuries but she just looked ill and the bags under her eyes didn't help.

He stood there, for a while before taking a seat. He slumped back into the chair, his elbow up on the arm and his face in his hand as he watched her. Part of him expected her to move at some point but she never did. She never did anything but lay there and barely breathe.


	18. Chapter 18

Music, your comments make me smile! :)

**Chapter Eighteen**

At some point the sky outside had gone from black to purple and then bright pinks and oranges. Warren had long since fallen asleep in the chair, exhausted from the god awful hell he had endured the last couple of days. She was draining to say the least.

Warren snapped awake when someone touched his shoulder, nearly hitting them before realizing where he was and seeing who had touched him. He was glad he hadn't lashed out, his mother would have kicked his ass thoroughly for it.

"Do you know what time it is?" she asked her groggy son.

He shook his head as he turned his neck, hearing it pop from the horrible angle he had slept.

"Ten thirty. Saturday morning."

He narrowed his eyes to her before glancing out the window and realizing that it was day time. He looked mildly surprised, obviously still tired.

"Come on darling." she smiled, offering the man her hand to help him up.

He would have taken it if she wasn't so much smaller than him and in danger of being pulled down. Instead he did it on his own and stretched before noticing something.

"Are you just getting back?" he asked in a relatively hushed tone to keep from possibly waking the young woman in the bed.

She smiled and nodded lightly.

"Unfortunately. Everything took so long." she sighed. "Come on. We should head home."

He nodded slowly and glanced back to the woman in the bed. Aryana hadn't moved, not an inch. She still lay in the same position, her head still forward, arms still flat on top of the blanket. She looked like she had been put in a coffin and just… stayed that way. It was far too creepy for his own liking. He felt his mother lightly touching his shoulder, bringing him out of his thoughts. She was smiling reassuringly to him when the doctor came back into the room. He greeted them kindly.

"Morning." he said warmly before turning to the patient. "No changes I see?"

Warren found himself glaring at the man slightly. If something had changed, he was fairly certain the doctors would know first.

"Her vitals are good," he said, mostly to himself before taking a pen light from his pocket and leaned low over her.

Warren watched as he pried open her lid to shine the light into her eyes. Apparently that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Suddenly, the heart monitor began to scream as the beeps got closer together, Aryana breathing deeply as she woke with a gasp. The doctor had shot back from her with the sudden movement, expecting her to lash out but it had taken her a moment to get to that point.

Her eyes moved around the room frantically, seeing nothing she recognized. Aryana was confused and confusion soon led to fear. She looked at her arms seeing the hospital bands on her wrist, a needle dug deeply into her arm connecting her to an IV and electrodes on her chest for the machine to her right. It was too much for someone that was still in a daze and she began to react. Before they could stop her, Aryana began to rip at the IV in her arm, pulling the massive needle from her arm before the doctor tried to stop her. She easily shoved the man off and a few feet back, nearly hitting the wall, with nothing more than a single arm. The action made Warren internally grateful she hadn't done that to him before he moved to hold her down.

He said nothing, holding her shoulders down before she could pop the rest of the electrodes from her chest. She seemed shocked her shoulders hit the bed beneath her. Her brow furrowed when her terrified eyes shot to Warren's. His face was still dirty but determined to keep her from hurting someone else, or herself for that matter. She looked, terrified, at the one who held her and through the haze, saw a pair of warm brown eyes. Slowly, eventually, she seemed to recognize the man hanging over her. She was breathing heavily before calming, her heart monitor reflecting it.

"Where am I?" she finally asked.

"The hospital downtown." he answered simply.

Her brow tensed further as she looked around, everything making more sense than before but she was still frightened.

"Where's Tony?"

"He's safe." a woman chimed as she stepped forward, Warren moving back. "Hi. I'm Joyce Peace."

She nodded slowly again, everything beginning to make her relax. She turned to Warren to ask him something else when she paused. She cocked a quizzical brow to the man making him eye her suspiciously.

"You look like Groucho Marx."

Joyce started laughing while Warren just glared at her. But he hadn't seen his reflection, the others had. Sometime after he had washed his hands, Warren had started eating, never washing the grease from him face. With constantly touching his face and sleeping in his hand, he had managed to spread the black muck from his cheek in a thick line across his upper lip making it look like a mustache.

"You just woke up and already you're starting shit?" he asked her annoyed.

"Well, it seems her mental clarity is returning then." the doctor said, making himself more presentable after her rather impressive vote of strength. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I was sat on by an elephant." she replied, annoyed by the man's stupid question. "So, I get to leave right?"

"You mean go home?"

"Yeah no. I'm just… leaving." she replied simply, popping off the last electrode and making the machine dead line.

The doctor went about turning it off when she pulled the blanket off of her legs and glared at the knee brace, her eyes shifting up to Warren. With a sigh, she turned back to the man in the white coat.

"Can I leave now?"

"I can only release you when your immediately family arrives to claim you."

She scoffed before falling back into the bed and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Fat chance." she muttered under her breath.

"Doctor, may I speak with you for a moment?" Joyce asked. "Outside?"

"Of course." he smiled, leaving the room with the woman.

The two teens stood there for a moment, staring at one another, both relatively annoyed. He could tell how tired she really was. There was just something there, lingering just behind the gray in her eyes. That combined with the bags made it obvious more so to him than the doctor apparently.

"What happened? Why am I here?"

"Joseph drained you again. Put you in a coma." he said simply.

"How'd you even know? He never took me to the hospital before."

His brow tensed slightly at the mention of previous times. Warren was taking too long to answer for her liking. She was about to say something to him when Joyce came back into her room.

"If you're up to it, the doctor's agreed to let me take you out of here. If not, you can stay another night."

"Anywhere but here please." she said as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

She was wearing a standard hospital robe which meant the entire back was open, closed loosely with those pathetic little ties that did almost nothing. Warren had seen more of her skin when she had moved to stand than he thought he would, but that wasn't the distracting part. There was something, a tattoo perhaps, just outside his line of sight. He could only see bits of it before the robe but it looked like it started around her shoulders blades. She didn't strike him as a tattoo type but when he realized what she was going to do, he averted his eyes.

Within moments she was dressed and had a new cane to help herself walk and without any indication to what was going on, she was led out. Aryana was curious but she wanted to get the hell out of the hospital. She hated them. They made her nervous. Warren stayed in the background, quiet, as his mother helped her into her car and the three drove off. He couldn't help but keep his eyes on the back of her head as she stared into her lap. Aryana's mind was moving frantically. She was trying to remember exactly what happened before waking up in the hospital.

Joseph was pissed, no surprise there, but this was different. After the cops had left, she had been in her room and he was there faster than she had thought physically possible given his size. He started cussing her out for telling people what happened in the house. He was accusing her of being ungrateful for everything he had done for her and honestly, that made her laugh. She laughed in his face and he got angrier. He lunged for her and she did her best to fight but he was on her leg and the intense pain made it hard to concentrate. She screamed for Tony to hide and heard him slam his own bedroom door open. After that, intense pain and heat surged through her body and everything went black. Next thing she knew, she woke up in the hospital with Warren hanging over her.

How in the hell did he get there? She couldn't understand it and with the stern concentration still on her face, she looked up into the rear view mirror and saw him looking back at her. The two shared the intense stare, neither face readable, when the car began to slow. Their attention shifted and Warren was more shocked then she was.

"Mom?" he questioned, an edge on his voice.

She only smiled and turned to the young woman next to her in the front seat. Aryana saw the look on the young man's face and her confusion grew the longer no one spoke. The feeling got worse when she saw the name on the mailbox near the curb. _Peace_.

"Welcome to your new home." she said kindly.

"What?" the teens asked in the same voice.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

The two both wore the same horrified/shocked expression as they stared at the small woman, waiting, begging for an explanation.

"Warren, be a dear and unlock the house for me please?" Joyce asked kindly, handing her son the house keys.

Warren growled, spouting angry words under his breath as he left the car and moved towards the house, unlocking it and storming inside without so much as a glance back.

"Look, Mrs. Peace, it's not that I'm not grateful for the offer but I'm not leaving Tony at that house."

"He's not going back either." she said calmly. "He's been taken to a new family for the time being and if everything works out, he'll be staying."

"What?" she snapped. "What's going on? Why am I here? Where's Tony? What happened?"

She was starting to panic. She didn't understand anything that was happening and the confusion easily led to fear.

"Calm down. I'll explain." she responded in the motherly voice that calmed her only slightly. "When Warren told me about your situation, I spoke with a friend of mine. She's a judge and a super so her help ended up being invaluable. She had gone to speak with them and after Warren leading her to Tony, the three went back to the house. Warren found you and they called an ambulance. That's how we found you and how you wound up in the hospital."

"And Tony? Where's he? Is he safe?"

She nodded with a smile.

"My friend Julie took him home with her. She's a good person. You can trust her."

"Mrs. Peace I…" she paused, her brain trying to sift through all of the information she was being handed. She had just woken up from a mild coma not too long ago, so everything was restarting to begin with but, everything else added on top of that was becoming almost too much. "I'm grateful, truly I am, but you know nothing about me or…"

"I know plenty." she replied simply.

"I don't get along with your son." she blurted.

She didn't mean for it to come out like it had, but it was true. They didn't get along. Fire and fire burns hot and volatile. It would do nothing but burn until one sucks all of the energy from the other and wins.

Joyce seemed slightly surprised by the sudden outburst but smiled again quickly.

"I know my son can be a bit… off putting, some times but at least give it a chance. I would feel better if I knew you were somewhere you could finish school instead of going back into the system."

"I… I'm not sure what to say…" she muttered, unsure of what to do when someone was being kind for no reason.

Honestly, it made her fidget uncomfortably. She wasn't sure what else to do.

"Well come inside. At least give it a night or two to think over. There's no need to be rash when you've been through such an ordeal."

"Okay…" she muttered unsurely.

"Come on. Your things are already in the guest room."

"Okay…" she repeated in the same tone as Joyce left the car and led her into the home.

She followed the small woman into the house but she still wasn't 'clicking' with anything. She was having trouble believing any of this was happening to her. The look was apparently still written across her face when Joyce turned and smiled to her.

"Would you care for something to eat? Drink maybe?"

"No thank you." she replied quietly. "I think I should go lay down…"

"Okay. Well, you're room in the first door on the right."

Aryana nodded and walked to the door already opened before stepping in and not even bothering to close the door before she laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Her head hurt and she couldn't tell what it was either. It was between being in a coma and being in, of all places, the Peace home. This place was oddly quaint for someone like Warren Peace. The walls were beige and other calming tones, nice furniture, pictures on the walls. She wasn't sure why, but she felt like he had a bat cave or something along those lines that he did nothing but brood in with only a single light shining down on top of him in the darkness. Yeah, that suited him better than suburbia.

She mused over the thought when her mind shifted back to Tony. Her brow creased as she sat up, looking through her pockets for her phone. She panicked slightly when she couldn't find it before noticing it had been set on her end table. She eyed it curiously, wondering how much of her stuff they had actually gotten a hold of as she found Tony's number and texted him. Most eight year olds wouldn't be responsible enough for a phone, but he wasn't most eight year olds. Considering the Roberts would never get them one, she bought them each their own and they did their best to keep them hidden from the two.

BING

"_How R U doing?"_

"I'm fine." she wrote back. "What the hells going on?"

"_IDK. I think we finally got out. Where R U?"_

"Peace's house. U?"

"_Judge Maher. I guess she's giving me a place 2 stay 4 now."_

"Peace's mom said she might adopt u."

"_That'd b cool. She's nice. She lets me read her law books."_

Aryana laughed to herself.

"U would find that fun."

_". When R we gonna C each other again?"_

Her face fell.

"IDK. Soon I hope."

"_Me 2. Tell Peace thanx."_

"4 what?" she asked with a disbelieving scowl.

"_He burned through the window so we could get in. it was awesome!"_

She laughed to herself, shaking her head. Yup, eight was still eight.

"Sure. I'll tell him when I C him I guess. It's still weird I'm here."

"_His mom's really nice. She used 2 b a hero."_

"Yeah. I heard something about that."

"_Maybe Julie will let us hang out today. U up 4 it?"_

"4 U twerp? Of course." she smiled.

"_Cool! Meet at the park?"_

"Let me know. Bye Tony."

"_Bye Aryana."_

She smiled at her phone before pressing the button on top and locking the keyboard, her head falling back onto the pillow. Her eyes went back on the ceiling when she felt someone darkening her doorway. Her head lazily turned to the side to see Warren standing there. He had been walking by and heard her phone going off repeatedly, stopping to see what she was doing out of curiosity but now he just stood there.

"Can I help you?" she asked, her voice devoid of really any kind of emotion which sounded odd but he seemed to take it the wrong way.

"You're the one in my house."

She looked at him slightly surprised by his random outburst before he continued on down the hall. A moment later she heard the shower turn on and assumed he was finally going to wash off the mustache.

"Whatever." she grumbled to herself as she sat up and eyed her knee.

With a sigh, she grabbed the Velcro straps and began to remove the thing. The tension immediately left her knee and she sighed her relief at the sensation. It had been too long since she had given her knee some air and she paid for it with the lines that had been almost engrained into her skin now. Sighing again, she began to rub the injury, wincing when she did but it was needed. It had become her standard routine in order to expedite her healing. When she went about bending the joint, she made up her mind. Screw the big bulky thing with the metal supports. She was going to graduate to a simple fabric brace. At least those were more comfortable.

Slowly she stood and did her best to gauge what weight she could pit on her knee, impressed for a moment before the throbbing began again. Sighing to herself, Aryana grabbed her phone, her wallet and her damn cane and moved towards the front door. She did like that she seemed to walk easier without the stupid brace but the cane still helped.

"Heading out?" a sweet voice asked from behind.

Aryana jumped slightly, half expecting a tirade of screams when she saw Joyce looking at her curiously.

"Yeah." she said, calming herself after overreacting. "I was going to head down to the drug store for a different brace."

"Oh, okay." she smiled before going back to her reading. "Be careful."

Aryana nodded slowly, her mind trying to wrap around the kind comment and before she could stop herself, she did something she _never_ would have done for Martha.

"Do uh, do you need anything?"

"Sure." she chimed, getting up and gathering her purse and fishing out a twenty. She walked over to Aryana and handed her the money. "Just a half gallon of milk and some triple A batteries. Are you going to be okay carrying the milk?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine." she replied with a light smile. "It's not all that far. Here." she handed back the money. "I'll get it."

"Are you sure?"

"It's only a few bucks." Aryana smiled. "It's fine."

"Nice to know _someone_ is so willing to help out around here." she called suddenly, her eyes traveling to the hall.

Aryana looked confused and followed the woman's line of sight seeing Warren pause at his bedroom door in the process of pulling a shirt the rest of the way down, his hair sopping wet around his face. He just grumbled and walked into his room, Joyce smiling wide and giggling to herself.

"I'm only teasing. He helps out quite a bit actually, ever since he had to get a job to help around the house." she said to Aryana quietly with a smile. "So, are you sure you can get everything okay?"

"Yeah," Aryana said, snapping out of the weird little world she found herself in. "Yeah no, it'll be fine."

"Okay. Well just be careful. I'll see you after a little bit." she called as she sat back down and Aryana walked through the door.

"Yeah, bye." she muttered unsurely.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

Aryana was making her way back from the drug store with her purchases, checking her bank balance on her phone to ensure she had as much as she thought she did. She was lucky, her mother leaving her some money when she passed and the Roberts never finding out about it. The social worker, thankfully, had pulled her aside and told her about the accumulated money when she was thirteen and since then she was able to get small things she wanted like clothes, since her 'parents' hoarder the checks instead of buying things she needed, and the cell phones she had gotten for her and Tony. With the balance checked, she slipped her phone back into her pocket and found a small retaining wall on someone's front yard to put her brace on.

Pulling the stretching fabric up, Aryana sighed her relief at the tension and stood again. She glanced to the bag and her cane before smiling. Looping the plastic bag over her cane, she slid it back far enough to catch on the hooked end before balancing it over her shoulder like a hobo. She knew she must have looked ridiculous but the weight on her opposite shoulder helped her walk better. So she made her way back to the Peace household only a block and a half away.

When she walked through the door, she was greeted with a smile, something that had caught her off guard by more than she'd like to admit. Joyce smiled sweetly and stood, grabbing the bag so she wouldn't have to carry it any longer and took out the batteries. She immediately grabbed the television remote and popped the old ones out.

"Why are batteries the one thing you notice you need, but you never remember to buy?" she asked rhetorically with a laugh.

Aryana only shrugged. She didn't have a TV. Sighing her satisfaction with the working TV, Joyce grabbed the milk and walked into the kitchen to put it away.

"So your knee's okay? It didn't get too stressed out from the walk?"

"Uh, no ma'am." she replied, realizing an adult was asking how she felt. "I need to get out and walk more."

"So, is there anything you'd like to do?"

Aryana looked up to see Joyce coming back into the room to resume her reading, waiting for her to answer.

"Like… what?" she asked with a curious glance.

"Oh I don't know. Warren has to go to work in about an hour so it'll just be the two of us. I'm off today."

"I'm still not completely sure what's happening."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" she muttered, shifting for a moment before speaking. "Like what happened to the Roberts'?"

Her smile faded slightly at the though of those people.

"Hopefully, they'll have charges brought up against them for negligence and child endangerment. Joseph Roberts is hopefully going to get assault added to his list of charges."

Aryana's face went wide, her mouth going a bit slack. She couldn't explain the emotion running through her at the moment and just realized that her eyes began to water. Nervous laughs finally escaped as she blinked joy filled tears free.

"They're going to jail?" she managed to ask.

"For a long time I hope."

"We don't have to go back?"

Joyce only smiled sweetly and shook her head. Elation swelled in Aryana for the first time ever. She just couldn't explain how happy she was at that moment. Joyce just kept smiling and approached, hugging the young woman gently. Aryana all but clung to her, shaking lightly as she squeezed the woman gratefully.

"Thank you." she muttered quietly.

"You are very welcome but Warren's the one you should thank."

Aryana pulled back, wiping her eyes happily but looked slightly confused.

"If he hadn't said anything, we wouldn't have known."

Aryana stood there for a moment, thinking about it. Joyce was right. If Warren hadn't seen everything for himself and said anything, she would still be at that horrible house and so would Tony. She had been so mean, jumping down his throat because the cops had shown up, but in the end it helped.

"Yeah," she finally nodded. "I'll do that."

The two smiled to one another, Aryana still trying to wipe the tears of utter joy from her eyes when Warren's bedroom door opened. He paused the moment he saw the two women looking at him, his hand not even off the doorknob yet. His brows pulled together skeptically before he stepped out, closing the door behind him. Still a little apprehensive, he grabbed a brush from the end table and went to the bathroom to put his hair up for work. Joyce only giggled under her breath before sitting back down, Aryana eventually making her way to the couch too by the time he reemerged. He still eyed the two, Aryana's eyes still a bit red which only added to his confusion.

"I'm heading to work." he said, stepping to his mother and kissing the top of her head like he did everyday. "I get off at ten."

"I'll see you tomorrow then." Joyce sighed. "I'm working the late shift at the hospital for the next four days. I won't be getting home until about six, six thirty in the morning."

He nodded his understanding and glanced briefly to Aryana before walking out of the house. A moment later his bike's engine roared to life and he sped off.

"You work at a hospital?"

Joyce smiled.

"Yeah. I'm a nurse. I've been there for about six years, not too long after I was disbanded from the League."

"They kicked you out of the League?"

Joyce smiled.

"I married and had a child with an arch enemy. They couldn't risk the security breach our marriage might have created."

"That's stupid." she grumbled.

Joyce laughed sweetly.

"It was my choice."

Aryana just eyed the woman. She had to be the most understanding, compassionate and just all around greatest person in the world. Was that her power? Unrivaled kindness? The thought made Aryana smile to herself.

Later on that day, nearly five o'clock, Tony had text Aryana telling her that Julie was alright with him coming to hang out with her for a few hours. She was so happy she'd get to see him and quickly went to meet him. Joyce had gone to take a nap before work, leaving at around nine that night so, for some reason unknown to her, Aryana felt compelled to write a note and tell her she was at the park in case she woke up early. Her behavior was surprising even herself as she walked down the street to the park.

She waited on the swing as an SUV pulled up. A few seconds later, Tony leapt out and rushed her. She braced herself and hugged the kid tightly as an older woman emerged, smiling at the two of them as she approached. By the time Julie had reached them, she was busy pulling Tony onto her lap as he talked feverishly about all that had happened, just that day. She did her best to keep up but unlike Julie, she understood Tony-Talk.

"Hi there." Julie smiled as she came to stand by the two.

"Hi." Aryana answered unsurely.

"I'm Julie Maher." she said, extending her hand. "You must be Aryana."

She nodded, shaking the woman's hand. They both knew who the other was, this was just simple pleasantries.

"I wanted to thank you for, you know, everything." she muttered.

Julie smiled and nodded.

"It's my job."

"So, are they really going to jail?"

Julie nodded as she took a seat on a nearby rocking horse. She paused when it moved, doing her best not to fall before speaking again.

"They'll be investigated thoroughly and the two of you will have to give statements but yes, when they're found guilty, they'll be sent to jail."

"What about Martha's power?"

"When someone has a superpower, they're placed in special cuffs that neutralize their power, ensuring nothing bad happens or in this case, they find the truth instead of more of her illusions."

Aryana nodded solemnly. She was still worried something would happen to prevent everything from happening, no matter how much everyone knew the two deserved it. She didn't have much faith in the system honestly.

"Can we get some food? I'm kind of hungry." Tony suddenly chimed.

The two women laughed at his sudden remark while attention shifted to Julie.

"What would you like?"

"Chinese!"

"Japanese!" Aryana added.

"Dirty knees!"

"Not going there kid." she laughed, scooting him off her lap so she could stand. "Chinese it is. Is that alright with you Mrs. Maher?"

"Julie. And it's fine." she smiled. "Come on you two."

With that, they set off to the Paper Lantern.

Aryana walked hand in hand with Tony, Julie smiling at the two as they found a table and sat next to each other. They had elected for a table instead of a booth and Julie soon found out why. They moved their chairs to face one another and with her palms flat up, Tony set his down on hers and their little slapping game commenced.

The two laughed, finally looking like the kids they were supposed to be. Tony was faster than he looked, Aryana taking longer than she'd like to actually get him and not surviving long when she had. The truth was, she was letting him win every once and a while. Their laughter carried through the restaurant, making a few of the patrons smile at them but drawing attention of someone Aryana didn't even know was there. Hearing the sounds, Warren had glanced up through the order window to see the three sitting near the center of the restaurant, laughing as they played their game. He just watched the two, smiling when Tony sighed, exaggeratedly, at losing right before their food arrived. Aryana responded by teasing him, rubbing his hair to annoy the child before they ate.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-One**

It was late when Warren finally made it home. He had stayed a few minutes later cleaning up before Mrs. Yin snapped at him, telling him he wouldn't get over time. He didn't think he would he just wasn't in a rush to get home. There wasn't really a reason for it. So grabbing his jacket and helmet, he got onto his bike and headed home.

It was cold, autumn already coming soon and the sweltering heat, which never got much above 85 degrees anyway, was almost over. Not like you could tell at school anyhow. The thing was so high in the air, it was colder there than the surface world. But, he didn't mind the cold. It never really bothered him for the sheer fact his body temp always hovered around 100 degrees given his gift. He didn't feel it a lot of the time, but tonight there was a bite in the air. It was welcomed given he spent so much time in the back where the air was stifling to breathe because of all the steam the dishwashers kicked up.

As he swung the bike into the driveway, he turned it off and walked it to the spot behind the large hedge to shield it from the street like he always did. It wasn't that they lived in a bad neighborhood it was just that he was over protective of it. You would be too if you bought the hunk of junk and rebuilt it yourself with a minimum wage page check. So, he locked the bike and headed inside. He hadn't expected any lights to be on though.

When he walked through the door and tossed his keys into his helmet, he was surprised to see the top of someone's head on the couch. Their hair was black and didn't match his mother's so for a moment he hesitated, feeling stupid when he remembered that they had recently become a boarding house. Sighing to himself, he shut the door and locked it, walking towards his room.

"The hell you doing on the couch?" he asked, noticing the TV was off. She didn't respond. Scowling, he walked to the back of it, ready to smack it with his helmet. "You ignor…"

He stopped speaking abruptly when he realized why she hadn't said anything to begin with. Aryana had her book resting on her chest, her hand still holding it firmly as though she were still reading it, passed out cold. She was laying on the couch sometime after she had gotten home from the restaurant and started reading only to fall asleep before she even realized it. He was fairly certain she wasn't waiting up for him to get home, just didn't realize she was as tired as she had been.

Warren paused for a moment, wondering if he shouldn't just leave her there. He wasn't going to wake her up, he knew that. He'd seen what she did when she was startled awake and he didn't feel like her ruining anymore of his clothes because she overreacted. So, instead, he walked around the couch and leaned over her. Gently, careful not to wake her because of the already mentioned reaction, he slid the book out of her hand and put it, pages down, on the end table. Standing, he grabbed the corner of the blanket on the back of the couch and pulled it over top of her.

Almost immediately she shifted. Warren was ready to duck if she lit up again only to have her grip the edge of the blanket and curl into it, rolling onto her side as she continued sleeping as though nothing had happened. Breathing a bit easier, he reached up and turned the light off, snapping his finger for a small bit of light to get back to his room so he could fall asleep after working all night.

Warren woke in the morning to the smell of food. It made him hungry. He rose almost instantly as he groggily stumbled towards the kitchen to find out what he could steal without his mother forcing him to grab a whole plate and sit to eat. When he rounded the corner however, it wasn't his mother that was standing at the stove frying bacon. He paused, wondering if he could slip back into his room without Aryana seeing him when his hopes were suddenly dashed.

"Would you like something to eat?"

He just stood there for a moment. What was he supposed to say? Of course he wanted something to eat but he didn't want _her_ making it. Not that he had anything against someone else making his food, he just didn't want it to be Aryana. After a while when he hadn't responded, she turned to actually look at him. His expression was relatively unreadable, something between sleepy and confused.

"Would you like something to eat?" she repeated, wondering how much of what she was saying was getting through.

"No." he lied, his eyes moving to the plate as she added her few pieces of bacon to her eggs and hash brown.

"Liar." she said simply, handing him the plate. "Here."

He eyed it before looking to her.

"I can make my own food." he said, feigning insulted.

"Why make it when I'm offering you this?" she asked with a cocked brow. "Take it."

Reluctantly, his hand came out and took the plate, moving towards the kitchen table when he heard her crack a couple more eggs. He took a bite and was surprised by how good it tasted. Without saying anything, he went about eating, nearly done by the time she had come to sit and eat her own. Neither said anything to the other, not sure what to say nor the type that would really instigate a conversation in the first place. So, when he finished, Warren stood and made his way to the sink, ready to do his own dishes.

"I'll do them."

He stopped briefly, turning to see Aryana biting her piece of bacon, just looking at him.

"I can do my own dishes."

She cocked her brow to him again, hearing the tone in his voice and not liking it.

"What's your problem?"

"Are you trying to prove yourself or something?" he replied, avoiding her question entirely.

"Excuse me?"

"Are you trying to make me look bad by cooking breakfast and doing the dishes like a good little girl?"

Her eyes went wide, almost unable to believe he had said that to her. Still holding her bacon when the shock turned to anger, Aryana couldn't stop herself before she ignited the pork, burning it to a crisp piece of charcoal before she could stop herself.

"Damn it." she hissed, dropping it onto her plate before looking up at Warren angrily. "First of all, I was already cooking breakfast so I thought you might want some. I was already doing it and it was just easier. Secondly, I was offering to do dishes because I dirtied them. And thirdly, don't flatter yourself. You don't need _my_ help to look bad. You do pretty good on your own."

"Fine." he snapped, smacking the water knob down and shutting off the stream. "Then _you_ do them."

"I already said I would Sparky." she said matter-of-factly, taking a bite out of the bacon he hadn't forced her to fry.

He growled under his breath as he walked pass her and out the front door. She didn't seem bothered by the man in the least, ignoring his flustered comments like you would a child. The only thing that was missing was her smacking the back of his hand whenever he smarted off, but she was fairly certain if she did that, the two would be fighting and she wasn't 100% yet. After that, it'd be on but for now she'd bide her time. Finishing her breakfast, Aryana did what she said she would and cleaned up, washing the pans and plates before setting them aside to dry and changing her clothes.

Warren was tuning his bike again, the only thing he liked doing and actually calmed him down, when the front door opened. He glanced over the gas tank to see Aryana walking out of the front door, putting on a pair of sunglasses. She noticed him looking at her and cocked her brow to the man. That seemed to be becoming common place anymore, raising a brow to the young man though the topic varied. Warren went back to his work, acting like he didn't want to launch fire at her from his seat.

"Where are you going?" he asked absently.

"Why? You going to miss me?" she asked sarcastically, limping her way towards the sidewalk, attempting to move without her cane for the first time since her injury.

"You have to be a smartass every time I ask you a question?"

"You have to be a jackass every time you ask one?"

"You know what," he snapped, nearly going on another tangent before she interrupted him.

"I'm going for a walk around the block." she said simply, silencing him quickly. "I'll be back soon."

He watched her walk off, limping slightly despite obviously trying to walk straight, and head off down the sidewalk. He looked to his hand, wondering if it would have been mean to throw his wrench at her despite how badly he wanted to.

Aryana on the other hand was waiting for him to do something along those lines, spout angry insults of throw something at her but was surprised when he didn't. She shrugged to herself as she thought about it, wondering if she was losing her touch. The pain in her knee was getting better, the young woman able to stand for longer and longer periods of time than she used to, but walking still seemed to be just out of reach. She was going to have to keep stretching and taking walks around the block to strengthen the damn thing back up. Thankfully, she wasn't going to have to take the cane to school anymore. She might limp a bit, but that thing was getting on her last nerve, almost making it harder to get around sometimes than helpful.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

School commenced as though Warren and Aryana weren't forced to live under the same roof. Neither of them told anyone they did, though Warren didn't have anyone to tell. He just went back, brooding at school and hating everyone and everything while Aryana had become friends with Layla more than anyone else, a surprising thing to the two of them. Layla still felt eternally grateful to Aryana for pushing her out of the way of Warren's fireball and no matter how many times she told the flower child that it was fine, she wasn't hurt, Layla just repeated that it was still saving her life.

At lunch they would sit together while Will had apparently become sudden friends with the 'in' crowd. Personally, Aryana didn't see the attraction to any of them. Gwen seemed fake, shallow and just… off, while Penny was a bitch and the two guys they hung out with were assholes. She just didn't understand why he would want to hang out with any of them. Though, everyone could tell Will had a thing for Gwen. He wasn't all that great at hiding it. They all could see how it bothered Layla too.

The two had become friends, fire and Earth, go figure. Aryana hated the mall but found herself going with Magenta and Layla. There was just something about the girl in green that made you have to say yes when she asked something. It was still foreign to her, having friends, but she kind of liked it. She liked having someone to hang out with outside of school that wasn't Warren. Not that the two of them even got along.

It was already the fourth week of school, almost a whole month since it had begun and almost three quarters of that, Aryana had been living with Warren. The two didn't even talk when they were at the house, neither really capable of not pissing the other off. It had just become their thing. With her knee now healed, she found herself wondering how long it would take for him to say something to her so she could kick his ass.

She still saw Tony at least once every two or so days. He had been adjusting to living with Judge Julie. The woman had been relatively apprehensive about adopting in the first place but apparently being around Tony for about two weeks was long enough to make her not want to let him go. He was happy and she was happy for him. Aryana on the other hand, had been put under Mrs. Peace's personal care until she turned eighteen. She was thankful but honestly, she didn't think it'd end up lasting. It just didn't feel real enough to last for the next two years. But, she knew she wasn't going back to the Roberts' household. In fact, they didn't even have a home anymore other than a cell a piece at Perdition Super Maximum Security Prison. She still smiled every time she thought about the two of them in prison for the next few years. Martha got ten, possibility for parole after eight. Joseph on the other hand got fifteen to twenty for what he'd done to her. No parole. Ah when the system came through. A wonderful feeling.

At the moment, Layla was on her way to come and pick Aryana up, Magenta too. Apparently there was some kind of dance coming up in almost three weeks, the end of September, but Layla wanted to go and look at dresses now before the rush and any good ones would be gone. Whatever. It was time out of the house and away from her elemental twin. Just being around the kid made her want to lit up and one of these times, she was afraid she might. Just because she could control it, didn't mean she could keep it from causing damage before she stopped it. So, she was at the park, waiting for the others to arrive.

She was balancing herself on the monkey bar poles, six or more feet above the ground, as though it were nothing. She had always had great balance and loved to test it by doing things like this. So, with sure footing, she walked along the narrow metal bar, back and forth, until they came.

Warren had walked out of the house, ready to go to work when something caught his attention. His eyes narrowed, barely seeing the edge of the park from the doorway. Curiously, he walked forward to the end of the driveway and there he saw it. Aryana had her arms out to the side, balancing as she walked along the top of the monkey bars. She wasn't even on the bars, just the slender piece of metal on the side as though it were some kind of balancing beam. He shook his head at the woman, wondering partially how she had gotten up there in the first place. The monkey bars weren't even attached to the rest of the playground structures. Primarily, to keep people from doing what she was doing right now.

Grumbling under his breath at her stupidity and apparent desire to re-injure herself, he turned to make his way back to his bike. Before he even managed to take a step however, he saw something that would have given anyone a heart attack. Aryana had begun to run the length of the monkey bars before lurching forward. To his horror, she had done a front handspring, landing only about a foot from the end before back flipping off of them entirely and landing without so much as a misstep. She had her arms in the air like some kind of damn gymnast, smiling to herself and looking as though even she was surprised it happened without injury.

"She's insane." he muttered to himself, shoving his helmet on and grabbing his bike.

Aryana just stood there, admittedly impressed she had managed to do that stunt, when Warren sped passed her. She rolled her eyes, the man going much faster than need be and in her mind, showing off. In reality, he was just slightly pissed, a common emotion around her it seemed. No sooner than he turned the corner, Layla's mom drove up in the family's hybrid (Layla's idea) and pulled along side the park. The young woman inside smiled and waved Aryana over, to hurry up so they could shop. With a smile, she got into the car and they set off.

They had made their way to the third dress store and although Magenta had found one she liked, something true to her style, Layla was still looking and Aryana, well, she was faking it the whole time. It was obvious Magenta was ready to go, Aryana not too far from the same thing, but Layla's enthusiasm was contagious. Damn it.

"What about this one?" she asked, pulling out a beautiful green dress.

The two friends walked forward as she pulled a Grecian styled green dress out of it's spot on the rack and positioned it in front of her. It was a flowy dress, not even remotely formfitting like the things they were passing off as dresses anymore, with gold tubing that crisscrossed over the bodice. It suited her well.

"I like it." Aryana replied.

"Me too."

Layla smiled before turning to a mirror. When she saw the dress, just pressed up to her not even on yet, she beamed happily.

"Yup. Definitely the one." she smiled, turning on Aryana when she noticed there wasn't a dress in her hands. "Why haven't you found one?"

"I don't even know if I'm going." she replied simply.

"So leave the tags on and return it if you don't." Layla stated obviously. "You should still get a dress just in case."

"I don't like dresses." she grumbled.

"Oh quite being a baby." Magenta sighed. "She's not going to let it go until you find one."

"Nope." Layla smiled. "Come on. It'd be more fun if all of us went."

"Fine. _You_ pick something out since you want me to go so bad. Heaven forbid I get the wrong thing." she said sarcastically. "Besides, it's not like I can get a date. Every guy in school's scared I'm going to roast them alive when I look at them."

"No they're not!" Layla called from over the thick rack of dresses, on the hunt for something Aryana could wear.

"So what?" Magenta shrugged. "Some of them need it."

The two shared a laugh.

"You could always as Ethan or Zach." she teased.

"First of all, Zach's got a thing for you." she smiled, Magenta rolling her eyes in the process. "And Ethan's terrified of me. Poor kid might melt if I asked him."

"Aha!"

The two jumped at the sudden declaration coming from somewhere _within_ the rack this time. They stared at each other curiously before their attention shifted to the dresses, waiting for Layla to emerge. She really was determined this one.

"I found the perfect dress." she called again.

This time they could see the dresses moving around where Layla planned to escape. A moment later, her arm shot out producing the gown she thought would be perfect for Aryana. The young woman groaned at the sequence and just the dress in general as her smiling friend emerged.

"Try it on." she demanded.

Aryana sighed to herself as she took the garment and turned, making her way to the dressing room to change.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

Aryana sat on her bed, staring at the large garment bag across the room. She was leaning against her headboard, just staring at the black bag, lightly chewing on her lip as she thought about whether or not she should just go return the thing now and tell Layla she wasn't going. Then she thought about 'Poison Ivy's' rage when she did. She giggled to herself at the thought of Layla being a villain but it would fit.

"Aryana, are you coming to dinner?"

Joyce's voice in the doorway made her realize she had been sitting there for a while. The mother noticed the bag quickly, the hanger hung on the top of her opened closet door.

"Oh what's that?" she asked with a wide smile, walking into the room to get a better look.

"A Homecoming dress."

Joyce's face lit up.

"Are you going to Homecoming?"

Aryana shrugged.

"I doubt it."

Joyce's face fell.

"Well why not? I bet it'd be fun."

"Aside from the fact everyone at school's too scared to even talk to me?" she asked with a slight smile. "I don't' do dresses. Or make up. Or really anything else that's overly girly."

"No kidding."

She snapped her head towards the door in time to see Warren walk by.

"Bite me Sparky!" she called after him, hearing him growl at the nickname and making her smile.

Joyce shook her head at the two.

"The two of you act like you're real siblings." she sighed.

"He started it." Aryana defended.

"I know he did."

"_Hey!"_ they heard from the other room.

The two women smiled to themselves as Joyce eyed the bag.

"May I?"

Aryana nodded and excitedly, Joyce began to unzip the bag to view the dress within. She let out an adoring gasp.

"Oh it's beautiful." she swooned. "And you're not going?"

Aryana shrugged again.

"Well why don't you and Warren go?"

"No!" the two shot back in unison.

Aryana scowled at the door.

"I wouldn't go with you anyway!"

"_Well I wouldn't ask you either!"_

"Jerk." she muttered to herself.

Joyce only shook her head. This was a daily occurrence with the two of them.

"Well," she sighed, placing the gown back into the bag before zipping it up. "I still think you should go. I think you'd have fun."

She shrugged again, honestly fairly certain she wouldn't.

"Come on then. Time for dinner."

Aryana nodded and got up from the bed, making her way into the kitchen behind Joyce. She glared at Warren as he sat at the table with his food.

"Jerk." she repeated, wanting him to hear her this time.

"Priss."

"Jackass."

"Stuck up."

"Rude."

"Snob."

"Hot-head."

"Firefly."

"I kind of like that one." she replied simply, having made her plate while the two of them were hurling random insults at one another. "Thanks _Sparky_."

He glared up from his plate at her through his hair seeing her smiling at the man. She just grinned triumphantly as she put a fork full of mashed potatoes in her mouth. He only glared before going back to his food as dinner commenced. Joyce had only watched the two of them go back and forth like they always did, shaking her head at them.

"The two of you… I swear." she sighed, going about eating her food.

It had become so common for the two of them to do that, that no one really paid attention to it anymore. It was just their way of saying hello to each other it seemed but Aryana would inevitably win. He _hated_ being called Sparky and it generally flustered him to the point he'd just stop. Eventually, he'd come up with something of his own. He had hoped firefly would have been it, but she seemed to like it so that was out.

When dinner was over, Aryana offered to do the dishes while Warren and Joyce got ready for work. She was doing the overnight shifts again and Warren wouldn't get off until ten like usual. Aryana would be left at home alone again and even though it didn't bother her, the silence was weird. She would keep herself busy for a while by cleaning, doing something given how kind Joyce had been to her, but after she was done she'd be bored again. Even homework didn't seem to take up too much of her time anymore. Half of it was so easy, she just didn't take too much time doing it.

The next day at school, the events had gone by like normal, ranging from classes to Aryana and Warren's general indifference to each other. However, Aryana's interest in the young man suddenly perked when she walked into the cafeteria to find Warren sitting in the middle of her friends. She had frozen in her step, staring at the young man with confusion written on her face as he looked like he was arguing with them when Zach and Ethan took their seats on either side of the man. Then, as though that wasn't odd enough, when Will walked by, Layla suddenly burst out laughing. She had entered the Twilight Zone. That was the only thing she could think. In this world, Warren was popular and had friends. It hurt her head. Just as suddenly as it started, Warren stood and walked off, coming in her direction.

"You jinxed me." he growled under his breath before leaving the cafeteria completely.

"Okay…" she muttered to herself as she walked towards their table. She sat in the seat he had abandoned, staring curiously at the red head who just looked at her, wide-eyed and innocent. "Did I miss something?"

Layla had a fork full of salad and in her mouth and paused, shaking her head vigorously without removing it to answer. Aryana raised a brow to the girl before taking a drink of her juice.

"Layla and Warren are going to Homecoming together." Magenta replied absently as she looked over her homework.

Aryana suddenly choked, coughing loudly at the declaration. Her throat burned from the action and she did her best to fight it back down before looking at the young woman in front of her.

"What?" she asked with a slightly forced breath. "That would classify as _missing something_."

"No, it's just…" she sighed, looking flustered. "I was going to ask Will, but he already asked Gwen and last night when he stood me up, Warren had come to talk to me, and then I just kind of blurted it out, so I had to tell Warren and…"

She was talking so fast Aryana was having trouble keeping up until she finally stopped her rant of random events that led to her going with Warren. Aryana just looked at her as surprised as Will had when she told him.

"So… yeah." she muttered finally.

"Wow. Okay then. You have fun with Mr. Sunshine." she sighed, forcing a laugh as the group ate their lunch.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

Gym was after lunch which was why Aryana never ate very much. Now that she had to actually participate, there was no way she was going to eat a lot of food and then start training in whatever fresh Hell Boomer would unleash. Today however, was another Save the Citizen day. Will and Warren were, still, the reigning champions which meant they would keep going until dethroned.

"Alright!" Boomer yelled, gathering the attention of the entire class. "I want, _Little Larry_," he mused, unable to keep from repeating his original nickname for the kid despite his power. "And Gehenna! Front and center."

The two stood from their respective places in the stands and made their way down to the gym floor that had already been outfitted for the training of the day.

"Stronghold! Peace!" he bellowed, the other two men coming down. "Hero or Villain?"

"Heroes." Will responded as the four began to suit up.

"Alright. Three minutes to save your citizen." he said, the dummy being lowered over the gnarled mouth of the pit. "Go!"

Larry immediately transformed making his gear useless. He began to rush forward, barreling towards the heroes. Aryana ignited her hands and made her way towards Warren. He did the same. He didn't have much of a choice. Both of the villains were fireproof and Larry was a lot stronger than him which meant he was Stronghold's problem.

Almost immediately, Aryana started launching fireball after fireball at the man. Warren put his arms up, engulfed in flames, to keep them from hitting him dead on. She kept going. The ground shook while Larry ran for Will, the young man grabbing the mailbox nearest him and ripping it from the ground. He threw it at the giant rock man only to watch it crumble against his skin and do nothing.

"Awe man…" Will groaned to himself as Larry continued.

He had no choice but to dig his heels in and stand his ground. The two hit each other, hard, their hands entwined as they pushed against the other. It was a bit easier for Larry given he had the leverage. Soon enough, he gripped Will and threw him across the ring and into the far off wall beneath the scoreboard. The crowd 'oooed' with the pain involved when Larry rushed him again.

Warren got a break in her firing and began to launch his own. Aryana twisted and moved out of the way before sending a continuous blast at the man. Seeing the oncoming blue fire, Warren ducked behind another mailbox, curling his arms to the side to make sure he wouldn't melt the plastic pads to his body. He growled under his breath at the girl.

She couldn't explain it, but Aryana was kind of pissed off at the man. He wouldn't take her to Homecoming but he'd take Layla? What the hell? He said he'd never be caught dead somewhere like that, and in a tux no less, so why the hell wouldn't he go with her? Anger fueled her fire and soon the mailbox began to melt. Giving up on the fact he wouldn't come out, she ceased her fire and waited for him to emerge. A moment later he did, looking thoroughly pissed himself.

With a loud roar, Warren lit himself on fire again, the heat immense and making the air around him shake while Aryana didn't seem phased. Instead, she decided to use a trick she had learned a long time ago. It was one of her father's favorites and after seeing a news report of him doing it, she had managed to teach herself. Sprouting fire from her hands again, Aryana managed to manipulate the flames into a pair of long, six foot whips. If she had been paying attention, she would have heard the fearful gasps in the crowd but right now, she was focused on Warren. His glare deepened.

He took a step to his right, determined to try and save the citizen, only to have her lash the whip at his feet, stopping the advance with a burn mark on the ground. He just watched her as she lightly twirled the fiery whips in her hands, making them twist like snakes from the palms of her hands. She only stood there, staring at him with black eyes. Again he attempted to move, this time lunging. She was faster than he thought.

When Warren moved to dive behind a bench, Aryana had swung her whips, slicing the top of the bench off with one swipe, the thing in half when she continued her spin before standing still once again. It was a flourished movement that would have been beautiful if it wasn't so terrifying. Warren swatted at the flame on his shoulder when the class suddenly began to count down from ten.

Attention shifted to the scoreboard and sure enough, the timer was counting down, the citizen getting lower and lower to the chopping teeth below it. She could see Will still fighting, just to get out of Larry's grip. Despite being super strong, Larry had huge arms that easily encompassed the young man and the best he was able to do was finally kick Larry in the shin. The large rock monster roared, dropping the man immediately and clutching the injury.

As though moving in slow motion, Will pressed himself against the back wall, knelt down like a track star before using his strength to launch himself off. He flew at the citizen and grabbed the rope, yanking it from it's trap.

"Time!" Boomer yelled loudly. "Stronghold, Peace, you failed to save _all_ of your citizen!"

Will looked confused before glancing down and realizing that he had pulled the dummy out of the teeth, not caught it just before. His arms and legs had already been gnawed off and all he held was the torso with a rope around it's waist. He sighed, dropping the dummy.

"Larry, Gehenna, victors!"

Aryana smiled as she shifted back to normal, her fire disappearing as Warren emerged from behind the bench. He looked angrier than she had ever seen him and wondered if she hadn't truly pissed the man off. For some reason, he managed to make her victory feel… wrong.

Growling to herself, she went to the locker room to change. When she had emerged, before the rest of the class had been dismissed to change, Warren was leaving the boy's locker room across the hall. He eyed her with what, she had assumed, was hatred. Confused, she grabbed his arm and made him face her.

"What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Don't touch me." he growled, snapping his arm out of her grip.

"Is this cause I beat you? Seriously?" she asked with a laugh.

Warren spun on his heels.

"You won using your dad's move."

"So?" she shrugged, trying to act like it didn't bother her that he knew that. "It works."

"You're acting just like him. Like father like daughter huh?"

"I'm nothing like my father." she defended weakly.

"You're just like him." he snarled, his voice low as he leaned in closer. "All you need is innocent blood on your hands."

Venom dripped from his words and she couldn't believe what he had said to her. Without warning, her hand came out and made sharp contact with his cheek. Warren felt heat from what, he was sure, was fire before slowly turning to see her face. Her brow was pulled tightly together, her eyes watering slightly.

"Go to hell." she hissed before walking off.

He watched her walk off down the hall, shoving the swinging gym door open hard enough it slammed into the wall before coming back. Her hand print was burned into the surface and he knew he had stepped over the line. He had been angry she had beat him and made it look so easy and just because he was pissed off, he said something he knew would hurt her feelings.

The bell rang at the end of fourth period and Warren wondered how he might… _apologize_… to Aryana. Even thinking the word made him feel slightly pathetic. He rarely, if ever, said something he didn't mean to help reduce the need to apologize because he hated doing it so much. He always felt, that if you're going to say your sorry for it later, just don't say it. There's no point in regretting the stuff you say. It's stupid when you can just keep your mouth shut. Unfortunately, he hadn't been smart enough to do that and let his damaged pride get in the way of his brain.

As he sat in his last class, he waited for Aryana to walk through the door. If anything, he wanted to know what kind of hell to expect when they got home. One by one, students filed into the room until the people became more and more scarce. After a moment, no one came through the door and the bell rang, signaling the beginning of class. Known for being late some times, he waited to see if she'd come in behind schedule but she never did. She never showed up to her last class and he found himself wondering if she had even gone to her fourth period.

He was ready to give her shit for skipping when the final bell rang and he made his way to the bus only to find she wasn't there either. She wasn't anywhere. She knew the bus would leave with or without the young woman so she wasn't stupid enough to miss it but she wasn't there when they took off. Besides, no one misses the bus to _leave_ school. If anything, that was the more important of the two trips. Sighing to himself, Warren slammed his head onto the back of his seat and knew this was going to be bad. He just prayed internally she didn't tell his mother. She'd kill him.

The mystery deepened however when he burst through the door and she wasn't there either. Curiously, he walked around the house to see if he could find her but there was nothing, not even an indication she had been there. He looked into her room and her bag wasn't there, neither was she. It was like she suddenly vanished.

Warren cussed under his breath as he kicked his bedroom door open and dropped his book bag on the ground beside his bed before falling onto it. He bounced lightly, settling at an odd angle across his mattress while he stared at the ceiling thinking about how he could make this go away without pissing his mother off or her even having to find out. Aryana was, single handedly, going to give a seventeen year old kid a heart attack. But as he lay there, something began to vibrate in his pocket. Grimacing as he struggled to grab it, Warren looked to see _Mom_ flashing back at him on his cell. He groaned to himself before answering.

"Yeah?"

She sighed heavily on the other end.

"_One of these days, you'll sound happy when I call." _she said with a slight laugh_. "Are you home yet?"_

"Yeah. Just got here why?"

"_Where's Aryana?"_

He felt his stomach drop slightly.

"_She's not right next to you is she?"_

"No. Why?" he asked, feeling a little better for not having to tell her he didn't know.

"_Oh good. Do you think you could get her out of the house for a little while so I can get things ready?"_

"Get things ready for what?" he asked in a ruder tone than he meant to.

She sighed heavily as though she was annoyed with him.

"_Warren I swear, in one ear and out the other. Don't you remember anything I told you this morning?"_

"Not really…"

She sighed again and this time he was certain was smacking her phone against her head annoyed. She did that periodically when he did something an average teenage boy did.

"_Warren,"_ she snapped. "_You were supposed to get me the numbers of her friends from her phone so I could tell them to meet us at the Paper Lantern while you were working."_

"Why?"

"_It's her birthday."_ she said as though it should have been obvious.

Warren groaned, this time hitting the phone to his forehead repeatedly. Of course it was. Why would he get to feel guilty for being a dick unless it being her birthday wasn't piled on top.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

After ensuring his mother that it was safe to come home with whatever it was she was hiding, Warren scrolled through his phone and found Aryana's cell number. He called but she didn't answer. He scowled and dialed it again. Again, she didn't answer. Irritated, he got up and left the house. He tried to think about where she would go but to be honest, he didn't really know anything about her. He never thought to ask anything. Why would he? The things he knew about her weren't exactly flattering or anything someone would want to know about another person. Too dramatic.

He was getting more and more agitated with the situation and there was nothing he could do about it now. He had to go to work. The only thing he was able to do was find Layla's parent's number in the phone book and write it down for him mother, making it look as though he had actually done what she'd asked before setting off.

At some point, he wasn't sure when because he was actually working, his mother had arrived. They had reserved a back room the Yi's used for tea parties and things like this, the social gatherings that would be too loud for the main dining area and risked annoying other patrons. He felt better that he wouldn't really see them, tucked away in the back, but they still had to walk through the main area to get there. His mom had pulled him aside, instructing him to come and say hello during his break. He said he'd try but he knew it was a lie.

One by one he watched from the back as the others made their way into the back room. First it was his mother, then Julie and Tony. After that came Layla, Magenta, Zach, Ethan and even Will was there. He wasn't sure why considering the young man wasn't even hanging around with the group but it didn't concern him. Eventually, Aryana herself actually came through. He was in the middle of rinsing food from a plate when she walked in front of the kitchen, but she never looked in his direction. She knew he was there, hearing his schedule when he told his mother, so she knew. She just didn't care.

Aryana could feel him looking at her when she walked in front of the kitchen. She could feel it and it made her sick. She knew if she looked at him, she'd most likely be consumed with rage and risk exposing herself in a restaurant filled with people. That wouldn't be good, so she ignored him and followed Joyce into a back room.

Everyone yelled surprise and she smiled kindly in response despite it obvious she was a bit unnerved. She couldn't help it, she hadn't expected this. In all honesty, she didn't know it had been her birthday until she had to write the date on a piece of her paper in class today.

"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?" Layla asked as she came forward and hugged her friend.

"I didn't think it was all that important." she replied simply.

"It's your sixteenth birthday. That's a big deal." she smiled.

Aryana shrugged but maintained her smile. Birthdays weren't exactly something she enjoyed. They never were and why would they be? It's not like she got presents. When Layla had moved aside, Tony ran forward and hugged her tightly. Aryana laughed, picking him up and hugging him tightly. He definitely made her day feel a little better. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned. Joyce and Julie smiled, saying they were going to enjoy their dinner in the other dining area so the teens, and Tony, could have their fun. They said their temporary goodbyes and left the room, Aryana turning her attention back to Tony.

"Oh my god you're getting big." she sighed, hugging the kid tightly as she put him down.

"There's only four hundred and eighty-seven days until I turn ten."

"You're missing a birthday there kid."

"Nine doesn't count." he scoffed, a few people in the room laughing.

"Why not?"

"Cause ten is a double digit age. It's more important." he clarified.

She laughed, mussing his hair again causing him to groan.

"Not in front of Layla." he grumbled under his breath.

Aryana eyed him with a smile before looking to Layla.

"Well," she sighed, kneeling to look him in the eyes. "You might have some trouble there. She's taken."

"By who?"

Aryana giggled, as did a few of the others while Layla turned crimson.

"Warren." she replied, showing as much disappointment as she could to the young man.

"But I thought he was your boyfriend?"

Now Aryana turned bright red, her face blank.

"Why would you say that?" she asked, lightly shoving the boy while her friends laughed at her.

"You've been living with him since school started. I thought by now he'd be your boyfriend." he defended, blurting the one thing Aryana didn't want the others to know.

She immediately slammed her face into her palms.

"You're living with Peace?" Will asked almost horrified. "But you almost Bar-B-Q'ed him during save the citizen."

"That does kind of make sense though." Ethan said.

Zach laughed slightly while Layla looked slightly embarrassed.

"Why are you living with Peace?" Magenta asked blatantly.

"I…"

"Our foster parents went to jail." Tony said bluntly.

Again she slammed her face into her palm. This time, repeatedly.

"Tony," she hissed under her breath. He turned to looked at her. "Shut up or I'll roast you alive."

"Ha." he laughed. "Like you could."

She growled before picking him up, holding him under her arm like a duffle bag as she stood.

"So, food?" she asked, quickly shifting the conversation.

Their topic of discussion changed after that pretty quickly, it obvious she didn't want to linger of the subject any longer. About a half an hour had passed and the subject was brought back up without anyone even speaking it. Warren walked into the room with two new gallons of drinks to leave with them and take the others. His eyes never left Aryana as he walked into the, now deathly silent, room. She however, refused to look at him.

He set the plastic containers down and picked up one of the empty ones, the other on Aryana's right, closest to the window and too far for him to grab.

"Can I have that?" he asked when it became obvious she wasn't about to hand it over.

Aryana took the jug filled with nothing but ice and handed it to him, finally meeting his gaze. Her face was blank but he was fairly certain he saw fire flashing in her eyes before darkness threatened to take over.

"Knock yourself out." she replied in an eerily calm voice.

He said nothing as he took it from her, the smell of burning plastic touching his nose. When he glanced down, he noticed why. She had melted her handprint on the handle. He sighed.

"You know you have to pay for this now right?"

Her eyes slowly shifted black, something he had never seen while it was happening. It made it all the more unnerving.

"So put it on my tab."

It sounded as though every syllable was forced through clenched teeth. He said nothing more and left without even glancing to the others in the room.

The air was still thick with tension as Aryana gently placed her hand on her forehead, her eyes down as she tried to calm herself. A couple of the ones in front of her, most in fact, were nervous at the sight of the dangerous fingernails she possessed, but the longer she breathed calmly, the smaller they shrank before returning to normal. Eventually, she glanced up and forced a smile.

"What was that about?" Will asked, everyone wanting to know the same thing.

"Oh, something he said to me today. That's it."

"That didn't look it." Zach muttered, receiving an elbow from Magenta for it.

Despite the frightening behavior between Aryana and Warren, everything after that was relatively light hearted, partially due to Tony's relentless flirtation with Layla. She seemed flattered but what do you say to an eight year old kid with a crush? She tried to explain she was too old for him but he pointed out that it would only be that way for the next ten years. He was willing to wait. It brought countless laughs from the others before the event came to an end.

She hadn't expected presents from anyone given she hadn't told them it was her birthday in the first place. She had, however, gotten a card from Will, Layla, Zach and Ethan though she was certain Zach signed his name in it on the way into the Lantern, and a cupcake from Magenta with purple icing and a candle. It was more than enough for her so she was happy. Until she had to go home. She wasn't looking forward to being under the same roof with Warren. Again.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

Aryana and Joyce had gotten home about an hour and a half before Warren got off work. Tony joined them. He had asked if he could spend the night and both older women agreed since they didn't have to worry about him missing school. He knew the bus for the neighborhood and it would have been a simple task. So, Julie had gathered some clothes for the young man and dropped them off at the Peace household. He had gone about getting ready for bed, taking a shower and such, while Joyce grabbed something she had gotten for Aryana.

"This is for you." she smiled, handing the young woman a small present.

Aryana took in gingerly in her hand.

"You didn't have to do this." she muttered. "I don't even celebrate my birthday."

"Oh hush now." she smiled. "I've never had a girl I can buy things for. Open it."

Aryana nodded and slowly began to pull the paper off the small square. It was a jewelry box. She felt her heart drop, fearing what might be inside when she popped open the hinged top. An old looking, heart shaped locket was resting in the center. She looked up at Joyce shocked, lightly taking it into her hands to better look at it.

"I bought it when I was pregnant. I kind of wanted a girl." she laughed. "Don't tell Warren."

Aryana laughed weakly as she stared at the trinket.

"I can't take this. I… You barely know me."

"I know you well enough." she smiled. "Do you like it?"

Aryana nodded, a smile tugging at her lips.

"It's beautiful."

"Good." Joyce beamed. "I like buying girly things every once and a while but like I said, Warren's a boy."

The young woman laughed under her breath and did something she never thought she'd do to anyone that wasn't an annoying little kid. She hugged her. Joyce was surprised but returned the affection until Aryana pulled back.

"Thank you." she said again.

"You're most welcome."

By the time Tony had to go to bed, Warren had come home though Aryana hadn't even noticed. She was in her room with him, leaning against the headboard while he curled into the pillows. Warren was in the process of untying his apron, something he didn't do before he left work only because he didn't have anywhere to put it on his bike, and paused when he heard two people talking.

"Please?" Tony asked. "Come on."

"Why? Usually you're fine with me reading."

"Yeah well, I can read on my own. I just want to hear it. Please?"

"Well why should I? You didn't give me a birthday present." she teased.

"Duh. I'm your present."

She laughed at his comment.

"Come on. Please?" he finally asked again, this time sounding more sincere. "I like it when you sing it. It's a pretty song."

"It's depressing."

"Still pretty."

"Fine." she sighed, adjusting herself. "Get comfortable cause after this your ass is going to bed."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" he mumbled.

Warren's attention was peeked. Sing? Really? This was going to be good. He was fairly certain Aryana couldn't sing. She just didn't look the type and he wanted to know early on if he was going to need to go outside and assure neighbors they weren't beating cats with a paddle.

"You ready?" she asked with a sigh. Tony must have nodded or something along those lines because there were no more spoken words after that. _"I'm so tired of being here, suppressed by all my childish fears," _she began to sing in a hushed voice.

But what Warren was expecting didn't seem like it would happen. He was waiting for the nails on a chalkboard, or even completely tone deaf kind of singing, not the actual task. He found himself glancing around the corner of her door to see into her room while he rolled his apron in his hands, contorting it into the little ball he usually did and saw Aryana laying on her bed, Tony beside her and curled into her side as she stroked his hair. It looked like she could have been his mother, the way she treated him, but given their history, he wasn't surprised she would be that protective of him.

"_These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real, there's just too much that time cannot erase._" she continued, her voice almost resonating and he couldn't help but sit there and watch, almost expecting it to be fake. _"You used to captivate me, by your resonating light. Now I'm bound by the life you left behind. Your face it haunts, my once pleasant dreams. Your voice it chased away, all the sanity in me…"_

He couldn't tear himself away. The song was so depressing, like she said it was, but there was something beautiful about it too. He heard foot steps and noticed his mom leaning out of the kitchen, listening in on what seemed to be going on in the room. Warren's attention shifted back inside.

"_I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone, but though you're still with me, I've been alone all along."_ she sang with a bit more authority. _"When you cried, I'd wipe away all of your tears. When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your tears. And I held your hand through all of these years, but you still have all of me."_

Her voice had begun to dwindle down as the song came to and end. She still lightly stroked the young boy's hair until she was done before glancing down at him. Tony had fallen asleep at some point during the song so, being careful not to wake him, Aryana shifted herself up and out of bed, gently laying his head onto a pillow in her place. Grabbing her phone, she turned towards the door and Warren suddenly realized he was still standing there. She met his eyes but didn't even seem to care as she walked passed him and towards the front door.

"Heading out?" Joyce called from the kitchen.

"Yeah," Aryana replied quietly. "I'm just going to the park for a little while. I have my phone."

Joyce nodded and went back to what she was doing while Aryana left.

Warren tossed his apron onto his bed and soon joined it. He didn't know what to make of Aryana in the least. Every time he turned around, there seemed to be something different about her. He thought he knew her, but then again he never tried. He never asked her anything or even talked to her without the two of them getting into some kind of argument. As he sat there, beginning to rifle through his apron and tossing out whatever random garbage he had put in it, something crossed his mind. He stood and began to make his way out of the house.

Aryana was lightly rocking back and forth on the swing, looking at nothing in particular as she swung gently. She was blissfully in her own world, thinking about nothing when she heard footsteps crunching the gravel under the swings to her side. She turned, slightly startled until she realized it was only Warren. She was less then enthusiastic to see him and went back to her aimless swinging. Neither said anything for a moment, her not wanting to, him not sure what to say when he reached into his pocket and produced something.

Warren presented his closed hand to her. Aryana eyed it skeptically for a moment, an expression written across her face when she met his eyes. He only motioned for her to hold out her own hand. Still confused, she put her open palm under his closed fist. Warren soon released what he had kept hidden, the object landing gently in her open hand. Aryana took a closer look at the curious object. She didn't understand until she remembered a conversation they had weeks ago. A smile touched her lips before she laughed, shaking her head at the stupidity of the entire situation. Warren smiled to himself.

"Happy birthday." he replied simply, standing and making his way back to the house.

Aryana just smiled, still laughing at the small piece of crumbled aluminum foil in her hand, no bigger than a quarter.

"_What are you buying me?"_

"_Who said I'd buy you anything? Ever?"_

"_Well, usually someone gets the person they injured a gift. You know, to say sorry. And depending on the recoup time, it better be shiny. Like jewelry. I personally like silver. Maybe a bracelet."_

"_I'll give you a ball of aluminum foil. It's silver and shiny. You can roll it into a bracelet."_

She shook her head again, still smiling as she flattened it. She heated her middle finger and pressed it through the center. It melted and passed through easily. Using her own talents, she continued to smooth the metal and in a few seconds, had a ring fashioned with the foil she had been given. In his own way, Warren actually gave her a piece of shiny, silver jewelry for her pain and suffering and he was right. It was nothing more than foil. Not to mention, given the finger it was on, she would gladly show it to him whenever he pissed her off again.

Warren smiled to himself as he walked back to the house with his hands in his pockets. He had thrown the piece of foil into his pocket after wrapping the buffet food. There wasn't anything in it, food residue whatever, just left over from the roll. For some reason, he had shoved it into his apron pocket and it had made its way home with him. When he found it, he thought it was perfect and seemed to do the trick. He was glad too because honestly, that was about the best he could do as far as apologies went.

He was tired and wanted to go to bed so he quickly took a shower and changed before making his way out of the bathroom. When he had, he saw Aryana coming towards him, presumably to take her own shower since there was only one common bathroom outside his mother's room. She only smiled kindly to the man and held up her middle finger. A grin touched the corner of his mouth as she kept her advances. He was slightly surprised when she stood in his path, blocking him for a moment from going into his room. He was even more shocked went she leaned up and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek, still smiling kindly when she pulled back despite the extreme confusion on his face.

"Thank you." she said simply before moving out of his way and into the bathroom to get ready herself.

He brow was still tightly knit together, standing there in his doorway, wondering if that had just truly happened. The fighting he was fine with, the jabs, snide comments, the insults, all fine, but this? He didn't know how to deal with this and moved into his room to try and escape the weirdness of everything.

**The song is Evanescence My Immortal. I was listening to it when i wrote this and it's just too pretty. :) Hope you guys liked the tender moment.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter Twenty-Seven**

Aryana had slept on the couch for one simple reason. By the time she had gone to get in bed, Tony was laying almost horizontal across it. She cursed at the kid under her breath before snatching a pillow and blanket and moving to the couch. A queen sized bed and he managed to take over all of it. Ridiculous.

Joyce had to go to work early in the morning, be there around seven thirty so she made her rounds and woke everyone before leaving at seven. She knew alarms were set but when you had two people who's hands could melt through plastic when they were annoyed, it helped to have them slightly more aware when they actually did go off. Warren was always easier to wake up because she wasn't afraid to kick the hell out of his bed to do so. Aryana worried her a bit more, being warned by her son that if it was abrupt, she might light you on fire. So with her, Joyce instead used an actual alarm clock, knowing the sound would save her from injury. Tony she let sleep until Aryana woke him. The teens were a pain, but he was just a boy and a cutie at that so she left it.

Surprisingly enough, Aryana woke relatively easy and actually moved around before Joyce had left despite the buses not coming until a quarter after eight. Joyce soon said her farewells and left, Aryana grabbing clothing and making her way into the bathroom to shower. By the time she had exited, she heard Warren, she assumed, stomping around like a water buffalo like he tended to do. She shook her head, putting her new necklace on along with her aluminum ring and exited.

She nearly ran into Warren. He hovered over her, staring down, groggy. She only laughed at his disheveled appearance and moved passed him. Warren cocked a brow to her, slightly wondering why she'd be laughing when he caught a glimpse of something on her back. Aryana had only brought her spaghetti strapped shirt into the bathroom since she hadn't decided what to wear over it so her shoulders and a portion of her back was bare as she had her hair to the side. Warren could clearly see more of whatever it was he had caught a glimpse of in the hospital weeks ago.

They were wings. She had bat wings tattooed onto her back. He could see their origin, the base of the 'wings' in between her shoulder blades and tattooed as though they were folded up, the rest disappearing under her shirt. They were easily about ten inches from top to bottom and if he hadn't been so unnerved that she had tattooed bat wings, something her father actually possessed, he would have been impressed. Shaking it from his head, he went about getting ready for school.

Homecoming was Friday, tomorrow and the school was thick with excitement. It annoyed Aryana more than she let the others know. Then again, she wasn't completely sure if it was that or the fact that Layla was acting more and more like a couple with Warren, going so far as to hold his hand when Will was around. She felt herself smile when Warren singed her hand. It wasn't that it was pain to her friend, more that it meant he didn't like her doing it. She didn't like that she seemed jealous of the two but she kind of was. The problem was, she had no clue why.

When class started that morning, Aryana took her place next to Warren at their lab table. She was tapping her pencil repeatedly on the desk to the point it was annoying the hell out of Warren. It was just this repeated soft clank because of the eraser but no matter how quiet it was, it just wouldn't stop. Finally having enough of it, he slammed his hand down on top of her pencil, the two hearing it crack under the pressure. She looked up and glared lightly at the possibility of him breaking it.

"Stop." he growled.

"Stop yourself." she grumbled, grabbing his hand and peeling it off of hers to see the damage done. She found herself grateful that he only snapped off the tip of the lead. "Go sharpen it."

"No." he replied in the same annoyed tone as his attention shifted back to Medulla.

"You broke it, you fix it." she demanded.

"Use a pen."

She just brought her arms up onto the table and crossed them, supporting herself and staring directly at him.

"You'd sharpen it for Layla."

His head snapped to hers to see her staring at him accusingly. He narrowed his eyes on her for a moment. Slowly his head turned back to the head of the classroom. She glared at him and decided she wanted to be childish.

"Ow!" Warren suddenly exclaimed, shooting his attention back to Aryana as the rest of the class looked to see what the loud interruption had been.

She acted as though nothing had happened, writing with a pen instead of the pencil she had popped him in the side of the head with. She knew it didn't really hurt, there was no way it did since there was a decent amount of hair between the pencil and his ear, but it was enough of a shock to make him call out.

"Mr. Peace, please refrain from your outbursts." Medulla sighed annoyed before returning back to his lecture of aircraft propulsion.

"I'll show you an outburst." he grumbled, speaking to Aryana instead of Medulla when he went back to his work.

Aryana only smiled to herself, happy with what she'd done for the time being. Apparently, Warren hadn't much forgotten about her little jab and decided to act. When the bell rang and class began to file out, he reached over. Aryana was busy shoving her books into her bag and hadn't noticed Warren moving towards her. When she looked up to take her pen, he touched his finger to it first, lighting it up and melting it to the desk's surface before walking out of the room. She stared at the molten puddle of ink and plastic.

"That was just childish!" she called after him.

On their way home from the bus stop, neither of them said much of anything. They never had anything to talk about so there was no reason to speak. But for some reason, he didn't want to be surprised when she ended up doing something again. Warren wasn't really willing to have Aryana do something to take him off guard again so he decided to break with tradition and speak.

"Are you going to Homecoming tomorrow?"

"I still haven't decided." she replied in the same even tone he had used when he asked. "When are the buses supposed to come and get everyone to take them to the school?"

"Seven I think."

She nodded absently to herself mostly, as she thought about it. It sounded interesting but seriously? Homecoming? To what point and purpose?

"Are you still going?" she finally asked as they neared the house.

He took a deep breath and sighed.

"Probably. I told that Layla girl I would."

Aryana smiled as she glanced to him out of the corner of her eye. He saw the curious expression on her face and it made him scowl at her slightly.

"What?"

"Are you going to do anything with your hair?"

"What's wrong with my hair?" he asked, suddenly offended enough to stop.

"Nothing." she giggled. "I was just wondering if you planned on brushing it?"

Still smiling wide, she made her way into the house while Warren stood on the front step, glaring at her. Grumbling under his breath at the woman, he went inside to find his mom ironing something on the kitchen table.

"What are you doing?" he asked, putting his bag down in the hallway by his door before walking over to her.

"Ironing your suit." she smiled.

He cocked a skeptical brow.

"I have a suit?"

Her smile faded slightly.

"Well, it was your father's but it should still fit you."

He nodded slowly, looking down at the three piece suit she was ironing and grumbled to himself. He really didn't want to have to put on a monkey suit but whatever.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

Warren came out of his room wearing his suit, fidgeting with the vest as he buttoned it. It wasn't even the biggest problem right now. He had a tie to deal with and no idea how to tie the thing. He had asked his mother but she fumbled with it, not remembering herself. Reluctantly, he knocked on Aryana's closed door and waited for a response.

"_Yeah_?" she called from the other side.

"Hey. Give me a hand with this." he said, not really asking but more demanding her to help him.

"_Uh, give me a second. I'll be out in a minute."_

He stared curiously at the door.

"Do I even want to know?" he mumbled, more to himself.

"_Shut up and just wait for me to come out."_ she snapped.

He was slightly surprised she had heard him but did as she so rudely suggested, sitting lazily in the kitchen chair and waited for her to emerge. He waited for nearly ten minutes and had to admit, his patience was running thin. He already didn't want to go so her drawing something like this out was just irritating.

"Come on!" he finally called.

"_Fine!"_ she snapped back. "_I'm coming out… don't… don't laugh okay?"_

He looked incredulously at the hallway. Laugh? How was he supposed to promise something like that? What if whatever it was turned out being funny? Well, to be honest he probably wouldn't openly laugh and was more likely to just mock.

"Fine!" he called back, just wanting her to hurry up and tie his tie.

"Fine…" she muttered to herself, barely audible just inside the doorway.

He just sat there, still slightly annoyed as the door opened and she emerged. Laughter wasn't the first thing on his mind to be honest. When Aryana stepped out of the room, she had her head down. She didn't much feel like seeing Warren giving her some kind of taunting look like he tended to do. What she hadn't expected however, was Joyce suddenly beaming.

"Awe!" she chimed loudly causing Aryana to jump and look up. "You're beautiful."

Aryana turned a brilliant red as she lightly tugged at the dress she wore. She felt like she was on the spot and didn't really like it. Warren just stared for a moment, never giving much thought to what she would have looked like dressed up before.

She wore a pale silver dress that flowed beautifully to the floor. The top was a halter, gemmed and jeweled but it wasn't overly done. It had dipped a bit too low in the front for Aryana so it was altered but she still left the back completely open like it was meant to be. She had her hair up, which wasn't all that odd, but now it was curled. Loose curls hung low from the updo, gently grazing her shoulder. She even wore make up for the first time… ever really. It wasn't much, just faint eye shadow and liner but it was such a severe change that Warren was having trouble making his brain do much of anything.

"You need me to do that?" she asked, clearing her throat to try and take the focus off of her.

He glanced down and realized she was motioning to his tie. He nodded. Aryana walked to him and gripped the ends. He was still sitting, something that made the task difficult, so she pulled him to his feet. He just stood there, staring down at her while her hands moved quickly, swinging the ends of the tie around until there was the familiar knot.

"There." she said simply.

"Pictures!"

Before either could move, there was a flash of light, shocking both of them. The two looked a little dazed for a moment before they felt hands moving them around. Joyce had turned into the prom night mom, snapping pictures of everyone before they were even remotely ready for it.

"Stand here like this Warren," she instructed, Forcing him to stand as straight as possible. "Now Aryana you come here and stand like this." she said, forcing Aryana to stand against the man's side, even going to far as to put her hand on his chest while Joyce made Warren put his on Aryana's lower back. "Now stay like that."

The two really weren't all that sure about what to do anyway. Everything was happening too fast for either of them to register what was going on. So they stood there, motionless, as Joyce snapped one photo after another. Finally, Warren felt himself snap too and knew how to end this quickly and abruptly.

"Hey mom, why don't we take some pictures of you?"

"Okay, well don't miss the bus!" she chimed, tossing the camera onto the couch so he couldn't grab it. "Be safe, have fun."

Aryana giggled under her breath as she followed Warren out of the house and towards the bus stop. They walked in relative quiet until she spoke.

"You clean up nice Peace." she finally said as they heard the bus approaching.

He looked down at her and let a smile touch the corners of his mouth.

"You too."

"I think I'm better than nice." she laughed sarcastically. "Pretty sure you went catatonic in there."

"Don't make me light you on fire. I'm pretty sure with the amount of hairspray in your hair, you'll go up in smoke."

She laughed openly as the bus stopped in front of them. He stood aside and let her get on first. It took no time for them to make it to the school, the two sitting silently in the back while the others in the front seats were chattering excitedly. They only rolled their eyes before making their way into the gym where the party was taking place.

"Whoa." she muttered, a smile touching her lips at the sight. "Not bad I guess."

He shrugged indifferently. "Could be worse."

"Well there's Layla," she said, looping her arm under his. "Try and play nice with the other kids okay?"

He sighed heavily as she drug him towards the young woman in green standing by the refreshments stand.

"The guys at this school are jerks." she sighed, helping Mr. Boy wipe off the spilled punch.

"Thanks a lot." Warren grumbled.

Layla turned abruptly to see the two standing behind her.

"I thought you weren't going to rent a tux?"

"It's my dad's." he replied solemnly. "He doesn't have much use for it in solitary."

Aryana shook her head at the man while Layla just struggled to change the subject.

"Cheese cube?" she asked, holding up a piece of cheddar, stabbed with a toothpick.

"His bark's bigger than his bite. Ignore him."

Layla noticed Aryana standing behind the man's shoulder and beamed. She moved forward and hugged her.

"Told you it was perfect." she smiled. "I'm kind of surprised you came."

"Yeah. I almost didn't…"

"Excuse me?"

The three shifted to see a young man standing behind them. He smiled kindly to the others but his attention was on Aryana.

"Hi." she giggled.

Warren couldn't hide his surprise at the sound of Aryana giggling at some guy. She'd never done anything like that before. She had suddenly turned into a giggling teenager. For no reason.

The man was tall and definitely a decent looking kid, someone they had all seen around school. His name was Trevor or something, a telekinetic. Warren instantly hated him.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked, his eyes on Aryana.

"Sure." she answered, unable to hide her surprise.

The two smiled and walked off towards the dance floor leaving Warren and Layla be themselves. Layla only smiled at the two while Warren seemed to just glare angrily, almost hatefully, at the two as they laughed and danced in the distance.

**In case you want to see the dress, here it is. I think it's pretty. :) The link is the last link on my profile if you're curious. Thanks for reading. **


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter Twenty-Nine**

Aryana was having a decent amount of fun, glad she had come, when the Commander and Jetstream were presented to accept their award. Attention shifted as Gwen took the stage to present the award to, in her words, the most powerful super being to ever walk the halls of Sky High. Herself. The crowd gasped when she suddenly transformed into Royal Pain.

"I knew she was a bitch." Aryana sighed under her breath.

"Royal Pain is a girl?" Commander questioned, forcing a few to roll their eyes at the obvious statement.

"Yes I'm a girl." she snapped in a robotic voice. "How I ever lost to a moron like you I'll never know."

Aryana had begun to move closer to her friends, sensing something wasn't right and she, well, she was right. Royal Pain began to Pacifying everyone in the gym, turning them all into babies.

"Hot-head, get as many people out as you can!" Boomer instructed, not long before he was turned into a child himself.

Aryana mused to herself at what his screams would have been like as a child if they were as bad as they were when he was an adult. But, she rushed for Warren and the others, the young man launching a fireball at an air vent and shoving them all through. The screams of the chaos behind followed them through the steel tunnel they found themselves in.

"Hey Warren, how bout a torch?" Ethan finally asked.

"Only if you want to be bar-b-q'd alive."

"Then excuse me," Zach smiled, glowing brightly and making his way to the head of the line.

"And all the reindeer loved him." Magenta sang with a smile.

"Way to glow Zach." Ethan laughed.

"Thanks dude." he smiled, spotting the end of the tunnel not too far ahead.

Before he could punch it out, it was pulled out for him. Will had surprised them all, helping them out of the tunnel.

"You guys are never going to believe this. Gwen is…"

"Royal Pain's daughter." Layla finished.

"Yeah… and she…"

"She stole the Pacifier." Warren added.

"Yeah, and she turned everyone into babies including your parents dude." Zach finished.

"Okay… That I didn't know."

"This might be too much for even the great _Will Stronghold_ to handle." Layla said sarcastically.

"Look," he sighed, going about explaining everything.

Honestly, Aryana and Warren had stopped listening. There were other things more pressing at the moment than Will's little drama problem. Though, Aryana had to admit she felt a little proud of the kid when he reached forward and kissed Layla.

"I think you lost your date." Aryana muttered to Warren.

He chuckled under his breath as he turned to her.

"So where's yours?"

"Sucking his thumb I think." she smiled, "Jealous?"

"Not likely." he grumbled, returning his attention to the problem at hand when Penny, Lash and Speed showed up. "You take care of Gwen. We've got this."

Will nodded before running straight through the walls.

"That just seemed like over kill." Aryana sighed.

The groups soon broke off, Ethan taking Lash, Magenta and Zach disappearing back into the vent, Warren running after Speed (still a little pissed he nearly got him during Save the Citizen) and that left Penny, Aryana and Layla. Penny wanted a piece of both since Aryana had forced her to wear food for the remainder of class last time they spoke.

"You're mine freak." three of the chimed while the other four went after Layla.

"Yeah," she sighed. "I don't think so."

Flaming her arms, she sent the fire after each of the Pennys. Two back flipped out of the way while one took the direct hit, disappearing instantly.

"I guess you're not stupid enough to send the real one after me huh?" she asked with a smile, extending a flaming whip from her hand.

"You're not worth the trouble." one chided.

She rolled her eyes and rushed for the cheerleader, swinging the whip and wiping them out faster than she'd thought. She stood there for a moment.

"That was slightly disappointing." Aryana sighed to herself before picking up the edge of her dress and rushing down the hall.

She had rounded the corner right when Speed flew into the wall in front of her, his ass of fire. She laughed at it, hearing a slap down the hall. Peering around the edge, she spotted Warren and Ethan. Still laughing slightly, she joined the two.

"Come on. Let's find the others." Ethan said, the three soon rushing off to find their friends and help if need be.

They managed to run into Layla who relayed some rather horrible news. Grabbing Zach and Magenta from their hiding place, they snuck into the offices and grabbed a copy of the blue prints for the school. Magenta was less than enthusiastic about their new plan but she was the only one small enough to do it. Layla, Warren and Aryana elected to go and help Will, the three the only ones that could actual project their power on someone else.

"Will!" Layla screamed as they ran into the gym.

He hesitated when he looked up at her and that hesitation cost him everything. Royal Pain charged her arm and landed and frightening blow. Will flew through the air and out the window. Layla screamed as he plummeted out of sight.

"And there goes your last chance of beating me." Pain taunted.

"We'll see about that." Layla growled, ready to charge only to see Will hovering in the window.

"Surprised?" he laughed. "Me too."

"You're flying! That's impossible!"

Will only smiled as he swooped in, scooping the young woman up into the air and dropping her before delivering a blow to her head, knocking the woman out. They smiled in their seeming victory, the young hero hugging Layla when everything went from bad to worse.

Out of nowhere, they school suddenly plummeted. The four of them dropped to their knees as air rushed around them.

"The school is falling!" Layla screamed.

Will didn't hesitate before flying out the window to try and stop it. Warren tried to stand, to keep an eye on both of the young women but when he looked to Aryana, she looked like she was having a break down. She was kneeling over, holding her head tightly as she screamed. He couldn't help but think this was not the time for her to lose her mind when he noticed something else. The tattoo on her back, now visible because she was bent over, seemed to be moving. His eyes narrowed on the object, the thing writhing as though there were something trying push out from her skin. Suddenly, the wings came to life and sprouted from her back.

Layla screamed at the sudden movement whether she meant to or not. Wings pushing through someone's back wasn't exactly something a_nyone_ was prepared for. Aryana just snapped her head up, her features having changed to resemble her dad when he transformed. She looked truly demonic now. Without warning, she beat her wings and flew through the window and out of sight like a giant bat.

She dove down to try and find Will, to help him. He was in the center of the school trying to push up so she did her best to aid him. He seemed shocked enough by what he saw but not enough to stop. They struggled more than they would ever admit to another person. When seconds ticked by, Aryana realized it was useless. She had to get everyone out of the school that she could. All of the babies were already hovering overhead in a bus with Ron driving so she only had to get their friends.

Faster than she thought she could, she was inside the school again, trying to get Warren and Layla.

"Come on!" she yelled, "We have to get out of here."

"What about Will? Everyone else?" Layla called.

"Jus come on!" she repeated, there was no time to try and explain.

But before they could do anything, engines began to roar and the school began to slow with a jolt. Aryana hit the ground, everything weighing them down onto the gym floor for a moment. They lay there, looking around, wondering what had happened before soaring back into the sky. Relief washed through them all. Layla rolled onto her back, smiling as they returned to their orbit, Warren propping his arms on his knees as his head fell and Aryana laying on her stomach, shaking her head.

"I hate this school." she sighed, her body shifting back to normal, the wings turning into nothing more than tattoos again.

Slowly, the group of wayward friends began to gather everyone up again, unloading them from the bus. Warren had taken Medulla to the Mad Science lab after forcing the man to swear he would pass with at least an A. Medulla agreed, neither of them willing to relive the events that had just happened. But, with a clean diaper, the scientist went about fixing the Pacifier, setting it to return the years it had taken.

The ones that had remained untouched were pacing the halls, talking amongst themselves or just sitting silently as they waited. They had nothing to do at the moment, all just exhausted from their ordeal. Aryana sat on her own on the floor, thinking about what had happened. She knew what she'd done, she just didn't like it. Apparently she was more like her father than she thought. She sighed, turning her head to her left and seeing Warren sitting there, his head against the lockers he had been leaning against, staring at the ceiling. She cocked a brow to him as something crossed her mind.

An hour and a half ago, they almost died, all of them. Every person in the school that had come had nearly plummeted to the Earth and most likely destroyed a small portion of the city below. There would have been nothing but flaming wreckage and death. It was a bleak thought but true. They had all almost died and most likely taken a thousand or more people with them along with creating a mile wide crater in the ground. So, with that in mind, she stood, making her way towards the young man.

Warren glanced up when he saw Aryana kneeling in front of him. She looked blankly at the man, her face unreadable. The two just sat in silence until she looked at his tie. He cocked a brow when she reached for it and had the gall to straighten it and make it look presentable. He was ready to open his mouth and say something when he was suddenly lurched forward and didn't stop until he felt her lips on his.

The shock of the entire situation was reflected on his features and those of their friends that were still watching the curious display. But Aryana never let it on that it bothered her. After a moment, she pulled back and looked into the man's confused face, hers still reflecting the same slight indifference. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips when she noticed her lipstick had transferred onto him.

"You should really fix that." she finally said, pointing to his lip. "Makes you look kind of cheap."

And without another word she stood, smiling happily at what she'd done, and left him sitting there. Layla and Magenta couldn't keep the laughs from their mouths as they stood and walked after her to find out what was going on. The boys just stayed behind, confused and clueless.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter Thirty**

Aryana was still smiling proudly at what she'd done when her friends asked her about the curious action. It was simple enough to explain. She wanted to see what it was like considering they had almost died. Sure it didn't sound that great out loud, but it was true. She had almost died without getting to see what kissing Warren would have been like. Despite all of their taunting, arguing, insults, bickering and everything else they did, she still owed the man a lot and because of that, had started liking him. It was a side-effect of their time together.

He still didn't know what the hell to do about what Aryana had done. Warren was sitting against the wall even after they started un-pacifying people, wondering what the hell had just happened. Why would she, of all people, kiss him? It made absolutely no sense and it had taken someone actually speaking to him to wake Warren from his internal thoughts. Eventually, he had stood and the Homecoming commenced.

After a while, Warren started to wonder where Aryana had even gone. After their ordeal in the hallway, he hadn't seen her, not even when the party started again. Moving outside, he looked for her and found her standing on the edge of the school, looking down at the city below through the thin clouds. She just stood there, by herself, admiring the view.

"I guess everyone's back to normal?" she asked, sensing the temperature change when he walked up behind her.

She could always feel the fire inside burn a bit hotter when he was around, like when you put two candle flames near each other, they use the other to grow before just combining and becoming one big flame.

"Pretty much." he answered. "Why are you out here?"

She shrugged.

"I think I might head home." she replied with a smile, turning to face him. "I've had enough excitement for one night."

"Why'd you do that? Kiss me?" he asked, feeling there's no reason to be coy about it.

Aryana laughed to herself before looking at the man again. Warren just stared at her blankly like he tended to do with just about everyone, giving them no indication to what he was thinking.

"Cause I knew you never would." she mused before turning back to the display. "You might want to step back a bit."

He didn't understand, but did as she asked. Just like before, the wings on her back shot out from her skin, expanding high into the air around her. They were truly massive but what did you expect when they were meant to carry a human around.

"I'll see you at home." she said over her shoulder before moving.

With one sharp swat, she sent herself high into the air and dove over the edge of the school, slicing through the clouds as she flew home. Yet again, she left him standing there wondering what the hell just happened.

By the time he had gotten home, his mom was already asleep and the lights in the house were off. He was slightly surprised, assuming someone would still have been awake only to realize that there was a faint light coming from Aryana's room, her door cracked. With his jacket slung over his shoulder, he walked towards his room, the door just after hers, and glanced in to see her reading on her bed. Lightly he pushed the door open. Aryana looked up to see him standing there and just waited for him to speak.

"Did you need something?" she finally asked when he just stood there.

"Does this mean you're going to start getting creepy now?"

She just looked confused.

"I mean, I don't think you can live here if you start getting obsessed with me. That might cause some problems."

Aryana's jaw just hung open for a moment at what he'd said. Warren seemed appeased and walked to his room.

"Oh I don't think so." she grumbled, pushing herself off of the bed and moving towards his room. "What the hell was that?"

Warren just turned lazily towards her as he pulled off his tie and tossed it onto a chair.

"I was just saying, I don't need some fire groupie following me around." he answered matter-of-factly as his vest joined his tie.

"Fire groupie? I can make a better flame than you any day… Sparky."

"I told you to stop calling me _Sparky_." he growled.

"Ain't gonna happen." she replied simply. "Sparky."

He growled, his hand lighting.

"Knock it off."

"Sparky."

"I'm warning you."

She smiled wide, crossing her arms.

"Sparky, Sparky, Sparky, Spar…"

Aryana was abruptly silenced by a fireball to the face. She would have seen it coming if she hadn't closed her eyes briefly to continue the mocking. Warren had hit her dead center in the face, enough to shock her and shut her up quickly.

"You're going to pay for that Peace." she hissed, lunging for the man with lit hands.

She wasn't about to launch the fire at him just because they could easily turn the entire room into ash and that might upset his mother. So, she rushed him, if anything to burn off some of his hair. Warren caught her arms, his own igniting as she struggled to claw at the man. A smile touched the man's face before he realized she was stronger than she let on. Shifting her grip, Aryana swung the man up and over, his back slamming into the bed. She smiled happily down at the man grimacing from the harsh contact.

"Ha." she smiled, turning to leave.

Suddenly, she was launched back and landed, hard, on the same bed she had slammed him down on, something pressing her into the surface. She glared up and Warren staring, annoyed, down at her as he pinned her to his bed.

"_Nobody_ throws me around."

"Then stop making it so easy." she shot back.

He growled at her but she didn't seem as afraid as he had wanted.

"Let me up Peace."

"No. You've annoyed the shit out of me for the last time."

"Oh yeah? Wanna bet? I've got loads more."

His eyes narrowed on her when something suddenly crossed her mind. He was really close, really, really close, and she wasn't sure what to do about it. When she had kissed him before, the was her, this wasn't. Her apprehension soon spread to her features and Warren seemed to notice it at the same time. He had her hands up over her head which meant he was lower than he normally would have been. The two sat there for a moment, neither shooting back insults or doing much of anything for a moment.

"Are… are you going to get off of me anytime soon?" she asked her voice having lost power.

Warren didn't speak but nodded. He felt himself moving down a bit further, feeling the heat emanate from her skin.

"When?" she whispered, her lips grazing his.

"Eventually." he replied.

Aryana nodded her head, her lips moving across his when she did.

"Okay."

And there was no more talking after that. Warren leaned in and kissed her, an actual kiss and not another repeat of what had happened at school earlier. He felt fire surge through his veins as they kissed, her arms moving around his neck. Without their knowledge, fire began to swarm around them, encompassing them in their tiny bubble.

0o0

There was rarely a time after that when the two weren't together after that. They would sit and have their own little conversations away from everyone else in the school, people whispering about them but neither cared. It actually made them laugh. People swore up and down that the two would form the most dangerous super villain duo and if they had kids, their kids would take over the world. They ignored it but enjoyed the stupidity of it all regardless.

The two were great friends with Layla and Will, the new power couple, Magenta and Zach, and even little Ethan got a girlfriend. Their time in high school was perfect, at least for Aryana, and that was something not many people got to say. She graduated with Warren, everyone else a year later, and set off on their new lives in the real world.

**Okay Kiddies, let me know what you think about this and I've started writing a sequel where they come back for their ten year reunion and I really like it. Let me know if you guys are interested. Thanks so much for reading. :)**


	31. Sequel Notes

Hey everyone. Just in case, I'm going to put up the ten years later fic, the sequel to this. i hope you guys like it and thank you for reading my story! :)


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